Think of the times you’ve seen someone start a diet; later, making some lame excuse as to why it doesn’t work. As a business coach, and the developer of software designed for the purpose of business organization, I hear these lame excuses all the time. In fact, many times I could give them better excuses than they offer up.
I Don’t Have Time | Work ON the Business? Meaning?
To work ON your business simply means building written procedures, in a step by step method, that allows you the owner to delegate to others the jobs you do. In other words, those HATS you wear, those jobs you do IN your business. Moreover, working in the mundane; some of the things you despise doing. Start building that operations manual today!
“So,” you ask, “Where will I find time to develop written procedures to organize my business?” Well, this is what I did, however you may not like this diet and workout.
I spent at least 2 to 4 extra hours each day and weekends on the most important procedures. In other words, I worked on one of those many hats I was wearing. Moreover, to show someone else exactly how to wear the same hat, as well as I wore it and wanted it to be worn. Simple, but tedious! However, eliminating one of those hats saved me six hours a day. “Put that in your smoke and pipe it,” as a good friend of mine said in a fit of frustration.
Sophisticated Systems to Work ON Your Business
One of the ways to prioritize your work ON your business is to fix or delegate the biggest issues first.
Therefore, I designed a system called the System Buster Locator to fix the biggest leaks first. This system, to document problems, root causes, remedies and allows for continual and sustainable improvement, all in one seamless operation. We call this our “secret sauce”. Please keep this under lock and key! This sauce is NOT for the faint of heart; nor for habitual diet-type persons. In fact, it is ONLY for those who face the winds of opposition and keep walking, step-by-step until they reach their goal.
A Little Help from a Friend
After a couple of years, things really started to roll. However, a friend and former business owner observed, “Philip, you spend much of your day taking in orders or acting as a customer service representative. Maybe it’s time to work ON that part of your business.”
So I began working on WRITTEN systems/processes for the positions that took most of my time—customer service and order entry. When those systems were written and completed, I took my friend’s advice. I hired and trained my own daughter-in-law to handle them. In fact, with the written processes and control checklist, i.e. Daily Routine Checklist, she wore the hat better that I ever did. After three months, she was doing 80% of my work. Wow! I had six hours more each day to work ON the business. I couldn’t believe the transformation that started taking place. We grew fast, but without all the pain many growing businesses experience. How about taking a video lean tour of how OUR business looked AFTER we put in those systems and I took off all those “hats”!
As a matter of fact, I didn’t think I would ever be free of, or trust others with, those other positions, those HATS. I micro-managed everyone’s work to make sure my business survived. However, I learned that the solution to ending your frustrations come as you install good systems. Most importantly, they free up precious time and simplify your life!
Summarizing
Build a complete system, with written step-by-step processes, for the positions you are working IN. As a result, you can hand it off, delegate it to someone of trust. Once you have a system for every hat/position you work IN, you will find yourself at the top of your business organizational chart. Hence, you now OWN a business, and you’re not just the owner of a very tough job with long hours. Consequently, you will find you have more time to WORK ON YOUR VISION of becoming a great organization. Now don’t be a wimpy boss!
Truth is, all those things that most business owners hope to do, are not as far off as they imagine. Hopefully, they can envision eliminating stress, more time for family, a real vacation, time for other projects—maybe even writing a book!
We now develop browser-based software for a number of industries, i.e. Field Service Management Software, Restoration Job Management Software, Job Shop Management Software, Cabinet Manufacturing Management Software, etc. Moreover, none of this could have been possible without having major time, allowed since learning the value of systemology!
Truth is GREAT SYSTEMS WORK!