Work on your business, not in your business.
Have the forethought to manage instead of always being consumed by your business.
I met a wonderfully prosperous and inspiring man while hitching a ride from Wanaka to Queenstown in New Zealand in 2009. The one piece of advice he gave was to “Work on your businesses, not in them.” There are loads and loads of people with great business ideas who are awesome people, but many get so consumed in the day-to-day operations that they lose the vision for the future, the time to analyse the past, and the ability to plan for where they want to be.
The largest value I personally bring is often that ability to step back, see and analyze the big picture, as well as the ability to tackle finite technical challenges that might require my immediate attention. Understood that you must make your business profitable, provide your products and services on time, and there are a million and a half things that need doing at any one time; but without that planning ability, all is for not. This need can be grave and fatal if not addressed in many start-up businesses.
If you are a new small business owner, entrepreneur, or even sole-proprietor I encourage you to take the time, force it into your schedule if you must, to work on your business. Make sure you are still addressing the why and the how as much as the everyday what.
Work on your business, not in your business.
Thank you for reading my blog – Daniel S. Herr.-
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You make a good point. It’s easy to get caught in the stress of deadlines and schedules, but taking at least 10% of your work to strategize and think outside the box will make you better at the everyday tasks AND facilitate innovative and creative thinking.
Thanks James!