BUILD not KILL your business.

In the 2016–2017 financial year, 12% of all businesses shut down!

There are many reasons why businesses close but the common thread throughout these failed businesses is that the business owner and/or operator were overworked, overwhelmed and over-stressed which eventually led to them closing their doors and shutting down their businesses.

I recently spoke to an electrician who was working for a very large company. He didn’t agree with how his supervisor was managing the work sites that they were working on. He also thought that he was performing and completing his job and tasks at a really exceptional level.

The electrician thought he could go into business for himself.

He started off kicking major goals, taking on clients and enjoying the freedom and financial success that comes with owning your own business. However, as his business began to grow, he was finding himself working longer hours in order to meet the work demands. He was finding himself needing to do more than just the technical work that was involved with owning a business. He found he had to spend a lot of time doing the marketing, crunching the numbers, invoicing, quoting, everything else that is required in running your own business.

At the end of the day he was overworked, overwhelmed, over stressed and eventually he gave it all in and went back to working for another company.

This is a common story especially among business owner/operators, sole traders and tradespeople.

Michael Gerber, author of the E-Myth Revisited would say that this electrician had his technical workers hat on, “The technician”.

The technician is the person who does the jobs that are required from the customers or clients.

For the electrician, it would be to wire power points, run cabling in houses, and all those other related things.

For a plumber it would be to fix the drainage, clear the pipes, etc.. For an accountant it would be doing tax returns, etc…

Michael Gerber also says there are another two hats that people need to have on in order to help a business grow and thrive.

The next hat is the Manager Hat. The Manager Hat is worn by the person who oversees the workflow and the technicians in the business.

They give direction to workers and help make sure that the task is done to a certain standard and/or quality.

The Entrepreneur Hat is the final hat. This is the hat that you need to have on in order for your business to truly grow and thrive.

The Entrepreneur Hat creates the vision for what and how your business should be and needs to be if it were to be truly successful.

With this vision you are able to set goals and benchmarks which then allows you to take the required action that is needed in order for your business to grow, thrive and succeed.

A friend of mine recently went into business on his own.

He works in the construction industry and he was unhappy with the change over of ownership within his company.

He decided to go out on his own. His vision for his business was to help his employees become better at what they do.

He also had other visions for where he wanted his business to be in 5–10 years down the track.

From the very beginning he had his Entrepreneur Hat. He was able to set up systems for quoting, invoicing, training his staff, hiring and as a result develop a great working culture which then allowed him to work on the business instead of in the business.

My question to you out there is what hat do you have on and how is that hindering your business or how is it helping your business grow?

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