Work ON your business, not IN your business

There is always something to do in your day to day business. Your mobile rings, an urgent email comes in, your computer proposes some updates, you have to hunt a non paying customer, the printer refuses to work, you have to answer an urgent RFP, your accountant needs some information from you, you urgently need to clean up your desk and there are some unopened letters waiting for you.

It’s tempting to be absorbed in the day to day rush. Especially if it’s your company. Even with an army of employees that know their job really good, it’s still very very tempting to dive into your business. At the end, you know best, don’t you? You founded this company, so you are a pro in every aspect of your company. You know best how to bake the bread, serve the meal, write the code or repair the engine.

Eh eh. You shouldn’t.

If you did start up a company in order to work into it, then why the hell did you start up a company? You are much better off as an employee in that case. No risk, no worries at night, no cash flow to monitor, no upset customers and no payroll. Just bake the bread, serve the meal, write the code or repair the engine. And that’s perfectly fine if that is what drives you. If you want to work in a company, never start up one, go work into an existing one.

If you start up a company, you should work on it. Not in it. Working on your business like: growing your business. Marketing. Monitoring cash flow. Bookkeeping. Differentiation. Taking a step backwards and rethinking your business. Blogging. Trying out new ideas. Calling customers for feedback. Hiring top talent. Updating your website. Improving on a day to day basis. Changing your products in this changing world. Taking risks. Setting up procedures. Speaking on conferences. Cold calling. Traveling. Analyzing new opportunities. All of that. But please, don’t bake bread whole day!

HOW TO PREVENT YOU, FOUNDER, FROM WORKING IN YOUR BUSINESS, IN STEAD OF ON YOUR BUSINESS?

Simple. Act as if you are a 100 times bigger. Are you a startup with 2 people +  yourself? Then act as if you are 200. It’s very very very tempting to bake bread all day with those 2 people. But if you do so, you’ll remain exactly that: a company of 2 + 1. If the 3 of you bake break, nobody is growing your business. If you act as if you are 200 people, eventually, you’ll grow to 200 people. You can help 2 people, but you can’t help 200 people on a day to day basis. They will have to bake the bread on their own, while you grow the business! By acting 100 times bigger, you can become 100 times bigger. Think big. Your company is now scalable. As long as you are absorbed by the day to day business of your company, you will never grow.

Do you want to found a company? Then realize that you won’t bake a lot of bread yourself anymore (if you want your company to grow). Do you like baking break so much? Then unsubscribe from this blog, and read a blog on how to bake bread.