Too Busy

Always rushing. Too many things to do and not enough time to do them. Something is always screaming for attention. Not enough time to do those things that are most important. Stressed out. Out of control. What can be done?

Start by knowing that you are not alone. Many small business owners feel like their business has grabbed the reins of their lives and is calling all the shots. No one intends to have this happen. (Imagine someone's business plan stating the intent to have their business take over their life!) The solution, however, must be intentional. You have to make up your mind that something can be done, identify what needs to be done and then do it.

Here's an abbreviated list to help jump start your thought process:

1. Just say "No." If it's unimportant, just say no. If someone else can do it, let them. If it doesn't generate revenue, how important is it? If it's urgent, decide who is in control.

2. Prioritize. Some people mistake time management for priority management. Not everything that demands your time is a priority. That's how many people get caught. Identify your priorities based on your vision, your talents, your values, and your revenue generating strengths. Let everything else fall to the bottom of your list where it can be delegated or deep-sixed.

3. Manage your money. When was the last time you heard yourself say, "I'd do it if I had the money." This often feels like a catch-22. Make up your mind that you are in control of spending, earning, and managing.

4. Focus. How important is getting clarity to you? When you know where you are going and how you intend to get there, the journey is more like hopping on the interstate instead of taking all the dirt roads. Gaining clarity can have immediate positive effects on your business.

5. "To thine own self be true." Look inside the treasure chest of your talents, skills, limitations, and strengths. Chances are there is not a suit made of lycra with a bold S emblazoned on the chest. Give yourself to your strengths and let go of those areas where someone else can be more effective.

An essential key to being more effective and successful starts here.

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Making an investment in a coaching process can be the first definitive step in turning things around in your business and life. Take charge and start working "on"your business and life!

Fewer than 1 in 5 Expect to Retire?

A 2005 Wells Fargo/Gallup Small Business Index survey shows that fewer than one in five small-business owners plan to stop working and retire over the long term.

WHAT!?

O.K. Maybe more than 80% of small business owners like to be kept busy. Maybe working in their business is how they foresee they will be kept busy until they just can't get out of bed in the morning.

That's not exactly what I had in mind when I became a small business owner myself. I have other things on my bucket list besides being my own employee until I am so incapable that I can no longer work. Ugh. That sounds like slavery. I want to be the guy who starts a business, grows a business and sells a business and can hold the check in his hand with a big smile!

It was before year five in my first business that I began seriously asking the question, "If I were to sell my business today, what would it be worth and who would buy it?" It was one of those questions that filled my mind every day. What would happen to my wife and children if I were to be unable to work? Would my business be worth enough (anything) to take care of them? That question sent me on a journey.

Here's what I learned:

Lesson One: Owning a Business is Not Just about Earning a Living.

If I want to earn a living I can get a job. But owning a business (listen to that word "owning") is an investment. A financial investment. And who wants to invest in something that doesn't have a good return?

Lesson Two: To Sell a Business It Has to Have Worth Apart from the Owner.

This was a hard lesson to learn. My pride in my achievements got in the way of my being able to see what was really going on in my company. I had a long hard talk with a successful business executive one day. After telling him my situation he said, "Your company only has worth as long as you are working there. Who would buy it knowing that you have no intention of working there after you sell it?" My heart sank. In other words, five years into the business and it was, for all practical purposes, worthless. (Don't misunderstand me - I made a very handsome salary. It was not about what I was earning. It was about what the company itself was worth.)

Lesson Three: If Not Me, Then What?

This was the crucial question that really got down to the nuts and bolts. I imagined taking a big eraser and starting to erase me. What was the first thing I could erase that would leave my company functioning and functioning well? That's where I had to start. This took a little brain power to identify everything that was going on. Maybe this was why I was so tired from working such long hours; I was involved in almost everything. Enough of that.

Lesson Four: Make a Plan and Do It

Weaning myself from my business was like raising my kids to be independent and self-sufficient. It required a whole new way of thinking. An intentional way of thinking. I had to find the right people to fill my many boxes, pass on the necessary knowledge to fulfill their duties, mentor them in their roles, then set them free and walk away.

I have oversimplified what I learned. Please do not think that I learned it quick and easy. . . It took me a while to catch on to what I needed to do. I look back and wonder what it would have been like to know a few short cuts. What took me thirteen years to learn in my first business I applied and achieved in only three years in my second business.

It's time for me to start working on that bucket list of mine. One of the items on that list has to do with giving more than getting. I have a plan to be more involved in the lives of other people; in particular business people. To pass on through a professional relationship the truths that I have learned about what it means to be the owner of a business.

Retirement? You betcha. My bucket list has a lot of things on it and no job is going to keep from it.