Do you sometimes feel like a mouse running on a mouse wheel? You’re working hard, “fighting fires,” dealing with everything from sales & marketing, customer service, accounting, bank deposits and even performing your business’s core service or shipping product. The day is over, you’re exhausted and as you look back on the day, the month, or even the years, you wonder if you are any farther ahead for all that effort.
You are not alone. Many (possibly most) business owners deal with this all the time.
One of the primary objectives our business owner clients work on while they “Build The Enterprise They Always Envisioned,” is to build an entity that can run with minimal intervention from them. Is this possible? It is, and it requires using different or new tools from the ones you used to get to your first level of success.
In the book “The E Myth Revisited” by Michael E. Gerber, he lays out the three personalities of the business owner. The Entrepreneur, the Manager and the Technician.
The Entrepreneur is that crazy person in you that said, “I’m going fire the boss and start my own business” or “I’m going to buy that business.” The Entrepreneur is the dreamer, the visionary, the one who has a goal and end result in mind. She is the one who makes the first decision to take the risk (and then every such decision thereafter)..
The Manager in you is the analytical one, the one who sees the obstacles, measures performance and progress, takes care of the paperwork to ensure that the mouse wheel is heading in the direction set by the Entrepreneur.
The Technician in you is the person who has the specialized technical knowledge and works “in the business” making the product, performing the service, or selling and shipping product. The owner-as-technician typically is the business in the beginning because the business is built on his or her expertise. Without the owner the business stops running.
Each personality in you has a different value to your business. The Technician plays the task oriented role where his value is based on the amount someone would be paid to do the same job. For example, if the business is a Plumbing Company the value of the Technician is what a plumber would make.
Generally, the value of the Manager’s role is double the value of the Technician, and the Entrepreneur’s value is often double that of the Manager.
Why is this? The value of a task is measured by the long term impact it will have on the success of the business. The Technician’s tasks will usually have a short term effect on the business, whereas the Entrepreneurs tasks will usually involve key decisions that will have a long term effect.
Ideally, the target should be to spend 80% of your time in Entrepreneur or Management mode. The reality is that many business owners spend very little time in Management mode, never mind Entrepreneur mode. Start by spending at least 20% of your time in Management and Entrepreneur mode with the emphasis being in Entrepreneur mode. If you can achieve this, you will find your business building quicker than ever before.
If you need help getting started, or keeping on track with this, please take advantage of my offer of a free consultation. Together we will take a look at some of the action items that will help to get you in Entrepreneur mode more often. To arrange your consultation session just email me at erna@nextlevelbusinesscoaching.biz or phone us directly at 207.613.NLBC (6522).
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