Carissa Daniel

Real Growth Comes From Working On Your Business More Than Working In Your Business

I absolutely love working out. I know that is something you infrequently hear but it’s the truth. No judgement okay, but between me and you, I honestly think I am an exercise junkie. I live for my workout sessions every week. I enjoy the challenge and of course the benefits that accompany a healthy and fit lifestyle.

Truth be told, this was not always the case. In previous years I struggled with consistently working out, until quite recently, when I had an 'a-ha' moment. The stronger I got, by working my muscles and increasing my cardiovascular capacity, the more I was able to do. I could lift heavy items easily, I felt more refreshed and energized, I could work for longer hours and of course the aesthetic benefits of looking fabulous.

No, don’t get worried, this post is not about working on your body but it is about applying the same principles mentioned above to working on your business, with the objective of continually increasing its capacity for more and of course maximizing its growth. 

There is a lot you can learn and apply from a healthy and fit lifestyle to your business, but I’ll leave that for another post. Today, we are going to talk about Working on Your Business vs. Working in Your Business and the grave importance of the first over the latter.

My clients who are reading this are probably saying to themselves, here she goes again talking about this topic, as I am always drilling it in their heads, simply because I know just how important this topic is to their growth and ultimately the success of their business. The term working on your business versus working in your business was made popular by Michael Gerber in his book The E-Myth Revisited- Why Most Businesses Don’t Work and What To Do About It (E stands for Entrepreneur), which by the way is a must read for all Entrepreneurs who are serious about growing their business.

So what's the difference anyway?

Working in Your Business refers to the everyday activities such as the administration, selling, marketing, serving your clients and the technical activities.

Working on Your Business encompasses all the activities we usually fail to do like, business planning, predicting the future of our industries, developing talent, looking at trends to monopolize, thinking of ways to serve your customers better, reading to gain knowledge and information, in other words, developing  your business' muscle capacity.

A true Entrepreneur’s role in their business should not be one that is tied to executing the daily, mundane, basic functions but instead, a role that is visionary in nature, one who has a hawk’s eye view of their business, being able to plan, strategize and keep ahead of their game. 

The reality is, however, when we are newbies starting out in our businesses, we occupy that role and the role of every other position, designating us with the more appropriate title of 'Chief Bottle Washer.' While this is generally accepted in the startup stages of your business, considering you may be bootstrapping and counting every penny you earn and spend, as your business grows, you must eventually shed this title and adopt and embrace the role of 'Chief Visionary.'

Many Entrepreneurs fail to make this important transition and continue in the more appropriate role of  Self-Employed Professional, (which by the way is a completely different concept from that of Entrepreneur) never really allowing their business to flourish and grow independently of them.

I get it, your business is like your first born, you groomed and nurtured it from idea to reality and now, here I am, telling you that in order for your business to grow, you must relinquish some of your responsibilities and hand your 'precious' over to others. 'Madness'…far from it actually. It’s time to get over the anxiety. You are not the first and you will not be the last, I hope (fingers crossed). 

Similar to a child who you nurture for a short number of years, at some point in time, you must let that child go, allowing them to be independent beings, exploring life on their own, trusting that the foundation you helped lay will enable them to live full and productive lives.

The same principle is applied to your business. If, after a number of years of laying the foundation and your business is still solely dependent on you to survive and grow, you and your business are both in big trouble and I mean trouble with a capital T. Let’s say for instance, God forbid, you get sick and you are unable to work or you decide you would like to tour Europe, (please take me with you when you are going, pretty please) will your business continue to thrive?

My dear friends, this is why working on your business is and I dare say more important than working in your business. Remember in the beginning I spoke about working on my body by strengthening my muscles and improving my cardiovascular performance, which translated into a better quality of living? Well, this is what you can look forward to by spending more time working on your business more than working in your business.

By now I know you are probably asking how do you make that transition, well here are a few recommendations:

1. Delegate, Delegate, Delegate- My suggestion is, to start off small, first delegate all of your non-core functions, i.e. the supporting activities of your business such as marketing, advertising, administration etc. and later on you can also delegate core functions to trained, trusted and skilled team members. You have the choice of either hiring in-house full time or part time team members who are skilled and knowledgeable in their various fields or you can outsource to a contractor or company who specializes in a particular function. Either options are based on what works best for you and your business model. It is time to get over the story you told yourself that no one can do what you do as good as you do it. It's time to assume a new role of leader, by training and teaching others to do an even better job than you can.

2. Automate as Many Functions in Your Business - Thankfully, technology has drastically reduced the need for some manual work. For instance, accounting functions such as issuing invoices and receiving payments, email marketing, posting to your social media platforms, scheduling meetings, etc. Automation helps increase productivity while giving you the freedom to work on your business.

3. Streamline Your Business- Create manuals, execution plans, how to’s, checklists, templates of best practices, processes and procedures of how to do everything from hiring the right fit, to sales calls, to writing proposals. This will drastically minimize the margin of errors, your business will be standardized and team members will be better equipped to carry out their functions effectively.

Delegating, Automating and Streamlining are only some of the ways you can release yourself from working in your business, which will provide you with the time and space to work on your business. The goal is to help you increase your capacity and flex your Entrepreneurial muscles, all towards the continuous growth and sustainability of your business.

I’ll leave you to matriculate on this conversation between Mark Zukerberg, Co-Founder of Facebook and Dan Higgins, where Dan is asking Mark about the number of hours he works per week. .

Dan: “How many hours do you work.”

Mark:  “That depends on what you count as work. I spend most of my time thinking about how to connect the world and serve our community better, but a lot of time isn’t in our office or meeting with people or doing what you will call real work. I take a lot of time to read and think about things myself. If you count the time I am in the office, it’s no more than 50-60 hours a week. But if you count all the time I am focused on our mission, that’s basically my whole life.”