Does it feel like your Small Business has done nothing but put you in debt and suck up all your free time? You’re not alone. Almost every Small Business Owner struggles under the weight of responsibility that comes with entrepreneurship. Someone I respect a great deal once told me, “When you own something, it owns you.” This was his response to our discussion regarding his decision not to purchase a summer home. The same can said about the decision to own a Small Business.
There are many reasons for starting a company:
- Freedom
- Income Potential
- Security
- Be Your Own Boss
- Because You Can
- and the list goes on…
Why then does a small business take us down a path that seems to be the exact opposite of why we started the journey in the first place?The reason is simple; the business wasn’t started with a specific goal in mind. For instance; the business will generate $1,000 a month in profit that will be invested until it generates $10,000 a month in passive income. Rather, when we start a business we hope and pray to make enough money to replace our income and cover our health insurance premiums!
Without a specific means-to-an-end for the company, we’ve just bought ourselves a job. With a job comes never ending tasks. Finish one and ten more emerge and eventually the only thing you can see is a never ending stream of work ahead. Your vision, your passion and your energy are gone.
STOP: Think outside your box for a few minutes. Get clear on your goals, what you want your business to deliver and put a time limit to those accomplishments. Separate the technician day-to-day busywork from the necessary entrepreneurial goal work and watch as you and your business emerge from the mountain of tasks that are burying your potential.
