The biggest myth about business is that all it takes to run a successful company is common sense. “How hard can it be?” you might ask. The truth is that many of the characteristics of successful businesses run contrary to what common sense might dictate.
While many people dream of being their own boss, setting their own hours, and raking in money, the truth is that most people don’t create a business – they create a glorified job for themselves. The problem is – if you are your business, you don’t have a business but the worst job in the world. Let me explain …
Michael Gerber first wrote about this in his seminal book, The E-Myth Revisited, which talks about how many small-business owners become workaholics chained to their business. Most small businesses are started by “technicians” – people who love and are good at doing a particular task (i.e. musicians, bakers, lawyers, computer programmers, designers, etc.). When these “technicians” start their own businesses, they continue to focus on doing work they are skilled at, while ignoring the fundamental tenets of business. They never set real business goals for themselves. They hate marketing and sales. And they aren’t good at managing their finances or delegating work to employees, outsourcers, or partners. They may do these things because they must, but they do them reluctantly.
As time wears on, these technicians fall into the following cycle:
- they realize they need customers and clients so they do a bunch of marketing
- they get a few projects and quickly focus their attention back to being “technicians”
- as they finish up their projects, they realize they don’t have any work coming in, so they again return to marketing
The cycle repeats itself and leaves the technician burnt out, often living paycheck-to-paycheck and never knowing where their next client will come from. During the times they have a few client projects, they find themselves overworked and understaffed, but because they aren’t good at money management, they find themselves too cash-strapped to hire people to help them. Often, they may come to hate the work they do.
In order to break out of this cycle, every business owner must initially see themselves in, and set time aside for, three roles: the technician (who produces the product or services the client), the manager (who manages operations and finances), and the entrepreneur (who sets goals and keeps the business on track). Eventually, the goal is to hire employees, virtual assistants, and partners to fill these roles and take some of the burden off the small-business owner.
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