Do you remember how exciting it was the day you
started your business? Your dreams for the future….how life was going to be so
different….the freedom you were going to achieve….the money you were going to
make…the legacy to leave your children….the jobs you would be able to
create…how you would be able to give back to the community…what ever happened
to all those dreams?
Quite often, when I am talking to business owners
they talk about the business as if it is living and breathing; it goes
everywhere with them. Sadly, that includes the drive home at the end of a hard
day, at the dinner table, whilst attempting to relax in front of the TV and,
for some, it goes to bed with them. The problems of running the business keep
them company at night, as they lay awake, deciding ways around their problems
and telling themselves tomorrow will be different. Alas most of the time it
isn’t.
The problems tend to start from day one of opening
the business because income on day one is zero and the first goal for many is
getting back to the level of income they were receiving in their previous
position. For some, they rationalise that even just under that figure would be
okay because business is supposed to be tough, isn’t it?
The challenge here is that there is a tendency to
forget the dreams that led to the business being started; they are put on the
back burner in the chase to get some turnover in the business. Less than ideal
customers, less than ideal suppliers, less than ideal employees are all let
into the business and all this leads to problems. A great deal of business
owners would describe themselves as firefighters, they spend their day moving
from one fire to the next and, at the end of the day, wonder why they haven’t
achieved as much as they had planned, whilst they had led awake in bed.
When I’m with clients one of the first questions I
ask is, “How has your week been?” If they answer “Busy,” my reply will always
be “What kind of busy?” There are two types of busy in business: there is
busyness working in the business fighting those fires, or there is working ON
the business. The latter is the place to be if you want to grow a business that
is both profitable and can, if you choose, work without you. The challenge is
that business can sometimes be like a hamster wheel, you get on it and start
spinning and as it picks up momentum it can feel really scary to step off it.
If you see yourself in the above story, there is a
way out of it and it starts with something that is totally in your control,
YOU. You need to make a decision, enough is enough, it is time to revisit the
dreams and aspirations you had when you first started your business and make a
commitment to yourself that, if your dreams are still important, you will achieve
what you set out to do. Honesty is next, at some level, even though you may be
very busy, you know that what you are doing on a day to day basis is taking you
further away from your dreams, so what you are doing needs to change. Courage
is the next ingredient. Change can make people fearful and people think because
they are feeling fearful, they haven’t got courage, but courage is acting in
the spite of fear; you don’t need courage to do something that holds no fear for
you.
Having made a decision to change, a commitment to
achieve your goals and added a dose of honesty, it’s time to use some of that
courage and get really clear about your present situation. A great tool to use
at this stage is The Wheel of Life/Business (if you would like a copy, drop me
an email). To achieve better work life balance I would recommend you start with
the Wheel of Life. The wheel is divided into eight key areas you need to lead a
balanced life. The centre of the wheel is zero and the outside is 10. What you
do is gauge where your life is on a scale of 1-10 in each area and then join
the dots to create your personal wheel. See below
What you now have is a representation of the wheel
that is driving your life and, for some of you, the realisation as to why that ride
may well be a little bumpy at the moment.
You now have choices, for instance: take a good look
at you wheel and consider to yourself, “Is there one area that if I were to get
to work on that would have a ripple effect on other areas of the wheel?” or
could you pick the top three areas you are going to work on?
All great journeys begin with a small step and it is
the same in this exercise. Let’s say you have decided to focus on the health
segment; instead of thinking, “What do I need to do to move this up from a 2 to
and 8?” think instead, “What can I do to move this up from a 2 to a 3 or 4?”
Start small and put in place strategies that can get you some small wins on the
board. As you begin to accumulate the wins, you will start to think and feel
like a winner and are more likely to continue with your new habits until you
become successful.
Alternatively, if you think I am going to work on my
health, jump on the treadmill and do a 5 mile run, when you haven’t done any
running for years, chances are you will wake up sore the next day, a little
regretful and less likely to do it again. Therefore, no new habit, no new wins
and the feelings could be, “I am a failure” not exactly the right mindset
needed to move you forward.
I mentioned the Business Wheel and this works on the
same principle in that it allow you to look inward on your business so that you
can focus outward. The wheel covers sixteen areas of business if you would like
a copy drop me an email.
You may have read this and decided that this is just
too simplistic. If you have, I would urge you to read it again and then if you
still do, please give me a call to have discussion as I’d love to talk it
through with you.
No comments:
Post a Comment