“What a curious phenomenon it is that you can get men to die for the liberty of the world who will not make the little sacrifice that is needed to free themselves from their own individual bondage.”

                                                                                                                         -Bruce Barton

Last month I lost my dad to a stroke.  As sad as this was for my family we were repeatedly uplifted by the memories friends and family recounted as they talked about what made him special in their lives.  It was apparent, my dad had touched many more people than I realized during his lifetime. 

My dad owned his own business most of his life.  When he sold his last non-farming business he continued to work part-time for the new owner as their senior salesman ensuring his customer’s needs were met and business grew.  He taught others how to take care of existing customers and gain new ones, sharing his experience and talent with others.  The relationships he developed with the people he touched in business including those he trained, those he serviced and his employer, were never more apparent than during the days following his death.

While his business relationships were quite impressive it is the other things that quickly came to the surface that I would like to share with you.  People began to call on my mom from all around, often 40 to 50 miles away, sharing stories of how my dad helped kids and teenagers with their agriculture projects.  My dad raised pigs on his farm and enjoyed seeing young people learn to care for these animals and show them in the local fairs and livestock shows.  These young people, their parents and their teachers continuously told story after story.  For some he helped them find an animal that could compete for top prizes, for others he kept the animals at his house if there was no place to put them and let the young person came over routinely to feed (of course he fed if they didn’t show for some reason) and in some cases an agriculture teacher would show up and tell him about a student that had no money for a project and asked if he could help.  The teacher would pay $10 to $20 for a pig and my dad would pick one out to make sure everyone was able to participate.

I also found that after my grandfather died about five years earlier, my dad quietly stepped in as the oldest son and made sure he routinely visited his four brothers.  He was able to find a way to engage each of them so they felt as though they were important parts of his life, he found something to share with each of them.  We even had people come to my father’s funeral service rather than attend the funeral service of their own relatives that was held the same day and time.

You see I frequently work with business owners that allow their business to take full control of their lives.  They find themselves in a form of business bondage and if they don’t find a way to break free their families and friends will only remember how hard they worked, they will not have the fond memories that come from spending time with each other and building personal relationships as well as business relationships.  Many owners/managers feel like a prisoner to their business, employees and customers. Only by first recognizing the common causes of such business owner bondage can they keep the chains from getting tighter each passing day.

After working with hundreds of business owners across the country, at The Growth Coach we believe the following five to be the most common causes of business imprisonment:

1. technical tendencies,
2. busyness,
3. ineffective leadership and delegation,
4. inadequate or missing business systems, and
5. growing business complexities. 

You may identify with one or more of these causes.

“Bad Habits are like a comfortable bed, easy to get into, but hard to get out of.”

                                                                                                                                              - A Proverb

Technical Tendencies:
Habits determine destiny. Too many entrepreneurs are former technicians now disguised as owners.  They think they are entrepreneurs, but they don’t act that way.  As once accomplished technicians, they have a hard time letting go of their expertise and familiarity.  They remain trapped in a technical comfort zone, mindset and work approach.  Sadly, this technical expertise is not enough for managing a business.  They  fail to develop the visionary, strategic, and leadership skills necessary to run a successful business.

Busyness:
Many owners confuse activity with accomplishment.  They confuse busyness with results, hard work with smart work, perspiration with purpose, efficiency (doing things right) with effectiveness (doing the right things).  Instead of working smarter, many owners hold tight to the wrong idea that working harder and harder is the solution.  They keep trying to shift into higher and higher gears.  The more the business grows, the harder they work, the more imprisoned they become.  No matter how much energy you spend wrong strategies inevitably lead to poor results – less freedom and more headaches.  It is like trying to catch fish in a pond with your bare hands.  No matter how many hours you work or how deep you wade, a poor strategy leads to poor results – no fish dinner! 

Ineffective Leadership & Delegation:
Far too many small business owners are by default small leaders.  Instead of leadership, they excel at doer-ship.  They are micromanagers that like to touch and control everything.  They trust no one but themselves.  They believe “no one does it as well as me”. They seldom delegate, if at all.  They mistake such busyness for business leadership.  Instead of thinking and leading like owners, most think and behave like employees.  Instead of reflecting and planning, they excel at sweating and doing.  They act like they have a job instead of owning a business.  To lead effectively, one must trust others.  Failing to develop their leadership potential costs them dearly.

Inadequate or Missing Business Systems:
A vast majority of owners don’t know how to design a new business or re-engineer an existing one to be more systems-oriented and professionally equipped with plans, procedures and policies.  As a result, entrepreneurs don’t create and document the processes (specific and repeatable ways to do something), procedures and policies that allow for well organized, smoothly running, easier-to-manage companies.  Without defining and documenting the specific work that needs to be done, owners can’t delegate effectively and eventually remove themselves from their technical roles.  As a result, owners are forever feeling “out of control.”  Tragically, most entrepreneurs have unknowingly, reactively and accidentally created an owner-centered and owner-dependent company.  They are trapped!

Growing Business Complexities:
A growing business with its increasing number of customers, transactions and problems will eventually crush a business not properly designed and prepared to handle such growth.  Without effective leadership and adequate business systems (an integrated web of processes), a growing company does not stand a chance.  Growing pains are unavoidable.  Producing predictable and consistent results will be nearly impossible.  By failing to plan for growth, you are by default planning to fail.

Busyness, technical bias, poor delegation, inadequate leadership and business systems, and the growing complexities of a business lead to a life sentence of working long, tedious hours in your company.  Fortunately your willingness to work toward change, can serve as your path to new found freedom.  You can learn to escape the blues and the tyranny of technical busyness.  You will no longer have to be the jack-of-all-trades for your company.  Growing pains will subside.  You will learn to be master, not servant.  You will learn to lead more and work less.  You will learn to shape your company by design, not by default.

“Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.”

                                                                                                                                   -Leo Tolstoy

Here are some questions to help you get started evaluating whether you or your business is in control of your life.

• Take the tombstone test.  Draw a tombstone, put your name at the top, the year you were born, a year you statistically are likely to die and then write down how you would like to be remembered.  Next ask some people close to you, family, friends, business associates, what they would most remember you for based on how you spend your days.  Are you on track?
• Could I take a vacation without my business coming to a halt while I am away?
• If someone else could do a task 85% as well as I can, do I let them take care of it?
• Do I have a documented system so others can know how I want things done?
• When is the last time I did something just to have fun?

Take some time to answer these questions honestly and write your answers down.  If you are in business bondage find out why now and do something to change it, reclaim your life.

“Our repeated failure to fully act as we would wish must not discourage us.  It is the sincere intention that is the essential thing, and this will in time release us from the bondage of habits which at present seem almost insuperable.”

                                                                                                                                 -Thomas Troward

I welcome your questions and comments on this column, please contact me at Bobbi Collins, The Growth Coach, 808-282-8328, B.Collins@TheGrowthCoach.com.