The Pinnacle Of Business Ownership
September 17th, 2021 // 11:14 am @ Scott Manning
Last week, I alluded to this pinnacle place that all super successful business owners reach that is the ultimate envy of everyone else who doesn’t find this special place.
It’s a place I want you to get to, to be at, to live in, and enjoy the life your business creates for you as a result. I described this “place” with one word…
ENOUGH
It’s an interesting word, isn’t it? Especially coming from someone that talks and preaches about growth, prosperity, abundance, and wealth every week. And that’s where you’d be mistaken. I talk about achieving, enjoying, having, and most of all sustaining those things. Yet, it is not necessarily that the objective should be ‘more’ for the sake of it or ‘more’ from a quantitative measure.
That said, of course, if you don’t deliberately decide and then take action to pursue and accomplish bigger goals, then you never will. And it is just smart business to increase profit, take more money off the table, enhance your lifestyle, and grow your net worth. What else would the point be if not those delivered through business ownership and entrepreneurship.
But there’s another greater reason to own your business and to do all that you do, isn’t there? It’s about autonomy of choice and the liberation that comes with being independent to do what you what, how you want, when you want, why you want, and for how much you want.
Life on your own terms to me takes on a whole new real meaning when you are an entrepreneur. In fact, you can’t actually have a great deal of understanding of ‘other people’ once you’ve reached this pinnacle, though you must remain empathetic and humble for multiple reasons. That’s a conversation for another time. Remind me; it’s a good one.
On the other hand, ‘other people’ I assure you have zero understanding of you… who you are, what you do, how you do it, why you do it, what it takes to do, and the life you live. Sure, they see (and often resent) the rewards but they don’t see and can’t fathom the responsibilities.
Here’s the bigger point: don’t confuse this pinnacle of ‘enough’ with lacking, stopping growth, ceasing to aspire, or ignoring your ambitions. Absolutely not.
It’s quite the opposite. Once you’ve arrived at that pinnacle of enough you actually reached a point in your business and your life where you can now be free to go after your wildest dreams and aggressively pursue your grandest desires. This is a point of true freedom.
Enough in your business means that you’ve got to a place where everything just works. You are dialed in. You like what you’ve built, you’re proud of how far you’ve come, most of all you enjoy the ‘place’ you are at.
Here’s how I define, teach, and help my doctors reach ‘enough.’
Let’s start with money. If you aren’t financially successful (not just profitable but actually using your business to further your life more so than it could be in any other capacity), then what’s the point. Otherwise, that’s a whole lot of work, sacrifice, and responsibility for not much in return.
So, I define this by achieving “The Number” that makes your life work. We can have an entire series on that alone and maybe we should.
Next, is all about deliberately building the business that you are best at and enjoy. This is putting yourself in your sweet spot like a star quarterback in the pocket with a great line and incredible receivers. It’s more than just do what you love but that’s a start. I’d say be best at what you need to be best at to make this business work and “The Number” possible so that you can do the next three pillars of the pinnacle and arriving at ‘enough.’
One of the most important ones to me is the lifestyle design that balances both life and business on purpose. Similar to ‘The Number,’ if this isn’t achieved then it sure seems like all for nothing to me. You must not fall into the trap of living to work and instead working to live and facilitate the lifestyle that you want.
The next pinnacle is having the culture, environment, and overall internal success inside of your business that fills you up. This is everything from taking care of your people to doing meaningful work to simply being inspired by the business you have created.
This is not ‘a place’ it is ‘the place’ that you built. Customized to your vision, mission, passion, purpose, and most of all your preference… that’s why you own it.
Finally, one of the most important things to avoid is always being on the search for greener grass in someone else’s pasture. Know that you are exactly where you are supposed to be and want to be when it comes to the exchange of value you provide for the success that you are receiving back. If you feel at equilibrium with this then you have reached a pinnacle few will ever experience.
It’s often the reason why business owners start tinkering with things that aren’t broken or how they get off base trying to be something they aren’t.
Once you find this place and know everything from what you are to your customers and what you aren’t as well as what the value exchange you can have confidence in, then you get to just get out there and play, to run wide open, to go full throttle, and that is where ‘enough’ turns into so much more.
It becomes unlimited possibilities and total liberation. It becomes no more have to’s or second guesses or self-doubt or trying to be a business that’s a pleaser to everyone. You know you are at the pinnacle when you do it for you because you know it’s exactly how things are supposed to be and you wouldn’t have it any other way.
And that’s where I’ll leave you for now.
By the way, and this is very important, you often can’t set out to determine in advance what this is going to be or where it is at. You just can’t. If you could you’d fast track your way there.
It is somewhat elusive until you’ve arrived. But you have to have the general idea and move in the direction of it. It’s kind of like going north, south, east or west; you have to pick a direction and then as you starting moving refine and hone in on it more precisely.
The more you grow and make progress on your journey, the more you learn about what you are, how you want to work, the money you want to make, and the people you want to be around.
Like most things in life they have to be experienced to be understood. Otherwise you just have a perception but that doesn’t mean you have an awareness or actual understanding.
Speaking from experience and countless other entrepreneurs, business owners, and professionals I have personally and intimately helped define, discover, reach, achieve, and arrive right there to a place of peace, significance, true autonomy, independence, real prosperity, and loving their life along the way!
Of course, there are two sides to every coin. The other side to this one is what is required to keep your business there. To sustain “enough” and to stay at this pinnacle is perhaps a far greater challenge and a much more worthy feat than getting there in the first place.
Knowing where you are headed is one thing. Getting there is another.
Realizing you’ve arrived is special. The exceptional part (that takes the greatest discipline, focus, perseverance, self-control, and unstoppable passion) is staying there.
We’ll dive into this topic next week.
Category : Blog
