The Business Of You – Part 2
May 20th, 2021 // 10:50 am @ Scott Manning
Okay, here we go my friend. This is fun stuff. In fact, if you are a real entrepreneur then I can’t imagine anything more fun for you than this in terms of thinking about how to make yourself more valuable and how to get more out of what you are already doing.
We all understand that the outcomes you have the greatest control over are the ones that you are personally involved with and while there is some element every business owner has of wanting to grow to a point where they don’t need to rely on their efforts to make their money, for the majority of entrepreneurs the objective is to be incredibly profitable, take money off the table, and then diversify it into other investments that now has your money working for you and multiplying itself over time.
There are other ways where you have people who sell, produce, deliver for you that gives you passive income from your business as a whole and that’s a topic for another time.
The bottom line is the fastest way to wealth is to have more money to invest and that means to become more profitable and that means to be able to build a more valuable business and that ultimately means that the owner must become more valuable first.
So, how do you do that?
Last week, I talked about clearing the clutter, removing the low value tasks, and getting out of your own way (as well as getting anything and anyone else out of your way) to concentrate on the best use of your time.
Peak performance is dependent on your health, your mental clarity, your confidence, your disciplined routine, and your execution within the time you’ve allowed.
I always tell my doctors that if you look at yourself like an athlete then you can see where you are deficient or where you are not giving yourself time to hone your skills, recuperate, and perform at a high level. Treat your craft the same way an professional athlete treats theirs.
There are of course some areas to look at when it comes to the business itself – which most have been discussion topics other weeks right here. You can be more profitable by elevating your business operations… Can you increase your customer value? Can you add revenue streams whether products or services or something else? Can you expand your ability to make money through capacity whether size, space, time, team, or opportunity?
These are all very powerful thought provoking questions for you as CEO. To evaluate new initiatives, remember the structure of the three phases of priorities where something is 1) being contemplated, researched, thought through; 2) then the most valuable of those off the list is being developed and created; and 3) then something is always being implemented and tried so that we are always in a constant growth mode and have a culture of creation.
Now, there are some unobvious places to look, specific to you as your own business where the overlap of you as CEO of your actual business comes into play.
We’ll go more into that next week and I’ll leave you with the questions that set it up…
But, today, we are focused on YOU serving as the primary producer of value within your enterprise. I want you to think deeply right now about three things this week…
First step: sit down right now and right your own job description if you were hiring to replace yourself as CEO of your business. What would this person be like, be capable of, focused on, be required to achieve? How would this person manage the operations, fit into the team, and ultimately bring value to the company?
Build that list and then…
Step number two: compare yourself to that list in order to see where your greatest strengths are and where you are weak. See how much time you spend on the objectives define in your job description. Try to be honest and critical with yourself.
The third and final step: use your notes from step two to build an action plan designed to make you better, faster, smarter, and worth more to yourself and to your business. Make a list of priorities that more align your time and actions with that of your ideal scenario. Obviously, if you hired a new CEO, other parts of the organization would need to adapt. So, talk with your team and tell them how they can contribute in order to make the you more effective and of greater value to them.
We are all human after all and water seeks its own level so you tend to focus on what is easy or what you are naturally good at – we are all guilty of it. However, that doesn’t always mean it’s the most valuable and it certainly by default means that there are probably some things missing from your areas of focus and action.
Yes, you can feel some tough love coming for the CEO with some great insights and valuable information that will make your shareholders happy and the best part of that is – for the Business of You – you are the key shareholder and decision maker.
Have fun with these questions. It should be exciting and meaningful to work on The Business Of You.
Category : Blog
