Working ON your Business Vs. Working IN your Business

By: Carmen Gigar

Michael E. Gerber, an author and business expert once said, “If your business depends on you, you don’t own a business – you have a job. And it’s the worst job in the world because you’re working for a lunatic!”

So many business owners get burnt out fast when opening a new enterprise, because they think they must do it all themselves. Months even years into their business life, they still feel compelled to do everything themselves. Worst yet, they don’t give themselves time to work on their business growth, create planning strategies or focus on future opportunities. How can they, when they are trapped in the cycle of work IN their business instead of ON their business.

Business owners tend to be ‘doers’ and usually get into a particular business because they have a passion for the work. They don’t however, trust others to do what they do so well. Since they are bogged down with the day-to-day minutia of the business, they can’t see the forest for the trees.

It is important for business owners to not only train and trust their teams to run their business, they must also give themselves time to grow and evolve their business. They need to give themselves time to invest on personal development, networking, and education to help them become better leaders and more successful business owners.

How do you break the cycle? How do you as a business owner, give yourself time to develop your business beyond the daily grind? It’s all about establishing boundaries and calendaring time specifically focused on building strategies and planning for the future. First, you must build a team to help you succeed.

In June, ActionCOACH provided several articles and practical steps to help you build a winning team. In review, building a team that works without you takes several keys.

Strong leadership 
Common Goals 
Rules of The Game
Clear Action Plans
Support Risk taking 
100% involvement/inclusion

Robert Kiyosaki, a business guru, once said, “If you’re not working to get your business or investing operation to operate without you, you’re thinking too small. Think team and systems.”

Ongoing training and skill development then continues to keep your team on the cutting-edge and allows them to bring external knowledge to your organization.

Once you have a team that is handling the critical daily needs of the business, you as an owner can start working on your business. Having to hit too many targets yourself makes for a very frustrating business life.

Working IN Your Business	Working ON Your Business
Making stuff	Education & Personal Development
Delivering stuff	Planning
Administrative stuff	Goal Setting
Paying invoices	Financial projections and forecasts
Hiring activities	Creating strategic alliances
Dealing with conflict	Automating processes and establishing systems
Handling calls	Setting strategic vision

Set time aside and block time on your calendar to do the work required to really move your business forward. Be disciplined and set a schedule for the activities to help you grow your business.

Brad Sugars, CEO & Founder of the world’s largest and most successful business coaching franchise, ActionCOACH says “Working 9am-5pm pays the bills; Working 5am-9am builds wealth.”

This systematic approach allows you to strike a balance and begin to focus on the most important role of a business owner.

Calendar time and stay disciplined.
Even if your employees are perfect, they are likely to make the right decisions more than 70% of the time. Unless all your decisions are perfect, they are likely to match your batting average. SO, what have you got to lose?
Get a coach or mentor to ensure you continue to challenge the status quo and build on your knowledge.
Stay true to the vision of your business and ensure that all your activities are focused.
Be honest with yourself and measure your business performance with data and with facts. Gut feel and instinct can only take you so far. You must use objective measures that will let you evaluate performance and progress.

Ultimately, you must let go of all the control. Consider that “66% of businesses make it to the 2-year mark and just 30% make it to the 10-year mark. One of the main reasons for this is because very few owners spend the required 20% of time working on their business and this contributes to businesses failing (gamechanger, 2019).

Learn more about ActionCOACH Business Coaching. Go to actioncoach.com and connect with a certified business coach in your area. The first session is free, and we guarantee results.

To learn more about Brad Sugars, visit bradsugars.com

Reason #1: Different styles and methods of business coaching don't work for everyone

It's important to be honest with yourself and conduct a realistic assessment when it comes to business coaching. Though business coaching can have many benefits, it might not work for everyone.

Every individual brings their own experiences and values to the coaching dynamic, so results will vary. Additionally, some individuals might need more than just a coach. They might also need specialised knowledge or communication strategies specific to their industry or target audience. Below are a few key factors to consider:

Reason #2: There is no clear focus or vision (talk about time dedication here too)

cIt's important to be honest with yourself and conduct a realistic assessment when it comes to business coaching. Though business coaching can have many benefits, it might not work for everyone.

Business coaching is an effective tool for developing a clearer focus and vision for growing your business. A good coach will help you to take a comprehensive look at your strengths, weaknesses, and available resources that can be used to reach those goals. They will also help you draw up action plans with step-by-step instructions to get there.

By providing honest feedback and being patient throughout the process, a business coach can make sure that you’re on the right track. This will enable you to set realistic milestones and tasks.

These tasks may need dedicated time outside of coaching sessions. For example, a coach might help a client develop a marketing strategy or implement new systems for managing employees. However, if the client does not have enough time to devote to these tasks outside of coaching sessions, progress will likely stall.

Both the coach and the client must have enough time available to reflect on past experiences, brainstorm new solutions, and test out different strategies. If either party is rushed or distracted during coaching sessions due to other commitments or obligations, they may struggle to fully engage in this process.

Effective business coaching also requires a commitment to regular meetings and ongoing communication. If either the coach or the client does not have enough time to dedicate to these meetings, progress may be slow or nonexistent.

It's important to recognise that business coaching is an ongoing process that takes time to yield results. While some clients may see improvements after just a few sessions with their coach. Others may need months or even years of consistent effort before they begin seeing real changes in their businesses.

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