Is Your Business Running You Ragged?

Most business owners are not blind to the fact that starting and running a business can be a 7-day-a -week prospect, especially at the beginning. Even if you aren’t working every day, you are still thinking about your business, making notes to yourself, and talking about your business with anyone who will listen.

And why not? It’s like having a child that you nurture and you hope that someday, it will sustain itself and in maturing, will allow you the freedom to pursue your other dreams. Dreams of travel, adventure, spending quality time with friends and family. And more.

To get there requires clear vision and planning – for starters. And it requires taking time to work ON your business, not just in it. Michael Gerber nailed it in his series of E-Myth books. We fall in love with our products and services and find it difficult to let go of the production and delivery of those services ourselves. After all, no one can do that as well as WE can, can they? But let go we must. We must lead our business, not BE it.

So we move kicking and screaming toward delegation to allow us to focus on what we do best. We start first by delegating tasks, then responsibilities, then authority. But it doesn’t come easily. The vision of a bigger future is what makes it possible to overcome our fears of letting go. And it helps to have someone else who believes in you and your big future, too.

For most business owners, that means having a coach and mentor, to bounce ideas, to hold you accountable and to help you grow your confidence for the next big step. That’s how I built my publishing business to almost $2-million in annual revenue before selling to a jealous competitor. I might have been able to do that without a coach or mentor. I really don’t know. I was fortunate to have both and have not been without both coaches and mentors over all these years.

I see clients every day who are in a position similar to me when I started to work with my first coach back in 1986. My business was growing, opportunities were everywhere, but it was hard to focus on where to go next. And the day-to-day requirements of the business kept me working 7 days a week.

My coach helped me get a life. A life that included travel and skiing and dancing and volunteering overseas. And most importantly, to spend more time with my family and friends and have a richer social life. And my business continued to grow because I hired people who were smarter than me at what they did, and it freed me up to be more productive and earn a bigger profit even though I was spending less time at the office.

And that’s why I now coach and mentor other business owners and entrepreneurs like you.

If your business is running you ragged, it’s worth a conversation to see if there’s potential for us to work together.  At a minimum, you’ll get an experienced entrepreneur’s take on where you’re at. At best, you’ll find a coach and mentor that can help you clarify the decisions you need to make and support you in your choices. You deserve to profit from the contribution you make to your clients and your community. You deserve to have a good life. A life you love.

Give me a call if you’d like to chat about this. My number is 780-244-0895.