Are you running a successful business or are you just self-employed?

[Peter T Davis]

Howdy

Peter T Davis's Small Business Blog

[OhioDave]

Peter,
Out of all 900 articles that you have written, this article might very well be the most profound one I have read.

I am less that 6 months into my business venture and I can honestly say that I am not running a business, but I am working in that direction. I am the president of a Information Technology Consulting Company and my business would not exist without my efforts. (I feel like I'm at an AA meeting). I don't think I could walk away for a year. I am setting the walk away goal for about two years from now. I think it will take that long to get all my ducks in a row.

I am very curious about business brokers. Obviously they buy and sell businesses or at least line up the deals at a tidy profit. Peter, I'm guessing you have talked with a business broker before. What did this person have to say? I'm guessing it might be simular to the auditing experience that goes on before a private company goes public.

I am trying to run a business. I can see the target. Getting there is the challenge.

[syphic]

Great information. It really helped me understand the difference.

[leslieguria]

Like Ohio Dave, I'm not there yet. I do have employees for administrative and telemarketing projects, but how do you make a name for yourself as a consultant without doing the work, at least in the beginning?

[Bizzy]

Very welll said. It's funny on the timing of it was well because as of today, I've handed the day to day operations of my biz over to my older brother, leaving me to simply make sure he's got what he needs to complete his tasks. Does that count?

[Peter T Davis]

Originally Posted by Bizzy

Very welll said. It's funny on the timing of it was well because as of today, I've handed the day to day operations of my biz over to my older brother, leaving me to simply make sure he's got what he needs to complete his tasks. Does that count?

Congratulations, that is a big step. Does it count? Well, let's see how well your brother does. An employee's performance is at least partially a reflection on your ability as a leader.

[lucky]

What if your business is a service-based business? For example, an event planning firm, marketing firm, web design, etc?

How would you be able to automate that? I mean for product based businesses its easy, but I've never worked out how businesses based on the knowledge of the owner can automate.

[Peter T Davis]

Well, the key is that the service must be able to be provided by someone other than the owner. If the owner is the only person in the world able to provide that service, you've got a problem. Usually, you can just train your employees. If you make it systematic, giving your employees a narrow set of guidelines, the level of service should be fairly well standardized so your customers will know what to expect.

[Play To Win]

I totally now what OhioDave is saying above. My business partner and I spend majority of our time running the business instead of growing it! Between family, full time job, and running two locations we are very stretched for time. We have recently added a employee to run one location but he is not at the point where he can sustain it by himself yet.

Without the critical time to work on improving processes and our business plan I feel it will hurt us sometime in the near future.

Mike

[mnphysicist]

Taking a year off for many businesses would be a major failure. I see what your intention is. Eg, for a very small business thats a goal, however for a larger business its would result in failure without some very substantial planning for a replacement. What do you see as the rough physical size of the business in dollars where its possible to do so, and then again returns to impossible.

For example
Joes garage may well run fine with a manager and absent owner, provided it has competant managers and has procedures and plans in place. Joe can set a 5 year plan, and revisit it periodically and it should be fine.

A large company such as HP however would not do so well. Just take a look at the path HP is on with Carly at the reigns..... I've seen it happen many times, without the founders vision and direct training of the replacement, failure is forecasted for the future as the strategic direction selected without vision is more than likely the wrong one.

Thanks
Ron