part 1: what google can't tell your about building a business that thrives without you

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WHAT GOOGLE CAN’T TELL YOU ABOUT BUILDING A BUSINESS THAT THRIVES WITHOUT YOU PART 1

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WHAT GOOGLE CAN’T TELL YOU ABOUT BUILDING A

BUSINESS THAT THRIVES WITHOUT YOU

PART 1

If You Want Less Stress, More Freedom, and a Better Business, Then These Vacation Tips Written By One Of The Most Successful Business Coaches in Vegas Is A Must Have!

The purpose of this white paper is to give you a blueprint on how to build a business that runs without you, so you can take that much needed time away.

Everyone wants more profits. The problem is that many don’t know how to get there and how to do it with less, which means building systems and developing a team around you.

We break this white paper down into 3 parts:

• Part 1: Business Mastery: How To Be Able To Take (And Enjoy) A Vacation

• Part 2: Leveraging Systems: Are You The Bottleneck For Your Own Business?

• Part 3: Hire An Amazing Team: Ensuring Customer Consistency When You’re Away

Before we dive into the how, let’s talk about why you should take time away from your business. First of all, everyone deserves time off - including business owners. It’s inevitable that a business offers as much stress as it does an improved lifestyle. A vacation or just taking time off is a much needed break from the daily operations of running a business.

A recent study showed that less than half of business owners said they would take a summer vacation lasting at least one week. Many are reluctant to take time off because they worry about disappointing clients, missing opportunities, or losing income while they are away.

Founder and CEO of Virgin Airlines, Sir Richard Branson,

on taking vacations: “Maintaining focus on having fun isn't just about rest and recuperation: When you go on vacation, your routine is

interrupted; the places you go and the new people you meet can inspire you in unexpected ways. As an entrepreneur or business leader, if you didn't come back from your vacation with some ideas about how to shake things up, it's time to

consider making some changes.”

Travel ads paint a very pleasant picture of vacationers awakening each morning refreshed, relaxed, and reveling in their time away from their day-to-day grind. It sells lots of cruises and airline tickets, but unfortunately (as we all know), the real-world experience of business owners is somewhat less laid back, and is often fraught with worry about all the things they should be doing, rather than enjoyment of their time away from the office. 

There are, however, things that an owner can do to minimize the worry and actually have fun while on vacation, while stil l keeping the business on course – even allowing it to thrive without them.

Continue reading to find out how.

Part 1: Business Mastery:

How to Be Able To Take

(And Enjoy) A Vacation

Let’s start with the definition of a successful business: a commercial, profitable enterprise that operates without you. Think about it this way. • Creating a commercial

enterprise is about mastering the parts of a business that it needs to operate.

• And then making it profitable by leveraging systems you’ve put in place.

• And then hiring a great team to help you, only then can it operate with you.

Now ask yourself if you’re truly in the process of creating a successful business. Also ask yourself if you’re driving your business or if your business is driving you. The simple truth is that most – yes, most – business owners only ever have a job, or J-ust O-ver B-roke.

The first step in creating a business that works without you is mastering the basics of business, which include your destination, your money, your time, and your delivery.

Destination - It’s no use going out and building a business if you have no idea where you are going. Give a person direction and they can run really fast. Clarity plus action leads to success.

Ask yourself, "What is your preferred future?" and then: • Draw on the beliefs, purpose, and

environment of your organization.• Describe what you want to see in the

future.• Be positive and inspiring.• Not assume that the system will have the

same framework as it does today.• Be open to dramatic modifications to

current organization, methodology, teaching techniques, facilities, etc.

This is the beginning of your mission statement. The end results should be clearly defined for your company. I f your expectations are communicated and understood, your employees will know what is expected from them as an employee of your business, not just while you’re looking over their shoulders. 

Getting your employees to buy into your business’s mission statement is a huge win. Not only will you see an increased level of efficiency and production from your employees, but you'll experience higher levels of employee satisfaction as well. It feels good to contribute to something that you believe in.

Always tie your mission into

your business objectives and

discuss them at regular team

meetings. This is how you rally

the troops! – You do it around

your mission and business

objectives.

1.

Money - Not only do you need to know your historic numbers, but also the ones that will create your future. Too many business owners have no ability to make a decision due to a lack of information. If you want to manage something you have to measure it. So, we turn to both

historic numbers and future Key Performance Indicators. This is both accounting numbers and testing and measuring results.

One area of particular concern for the smaller business owner lies in the effective management of working capital. Net working capital is defined as the difference between current assets and current liabilities and is often thought of as the "circulating capital" of the business. Lack of control in this crucial area is a primary cause of business failure in both small and large firms.

The business manager must continually be alert to changes in working capital accounts, the cause of these changes, and the implications of these changes for the financial health of the company.

2.

Time - Time is one of the commodities business owners never seem to have enough of. One of the consequences of this is that their families suffer. Those that are able to devote sufficient time to their families usually complain that they

never seem to have the time to take on new business opportunities – or take a much needed vacation.

The crucial aspect of time is prioritizing what you do so you can concentrate on doing the most important and time saving jobs first. Simple things like …

• Invoices sent on time • Collection of debts • Provisioning of products / services • Knowing KPI’s • Positive Cash Flow activities

These are aspects you as the business owner need to prioritize, otherwise the other activities get lost in ‘just doing things.’ When you know the impact of your activity, that’s when you achieve productivity.

3.

Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer on taking a vacation: “I have a theory that burnout is about resentment. And you beat it by knowing what it is you're giving up that makes you resentful. I pace myself by taking a week-long vacation every four months.”

Delivery – Are you delivering consistent customer satisfaction and execution of products when you are away? This is the biggest factor in creating a business that runs with you. It means ongoing execution and delivery of your product or service without your presence.

Many entrepreneurs worry about losing business or who can handle a crisis in their absence.

If there's a natural "second in command" on your team, put that person in charge to run the show in your absence. When Steve Jobs went on leave from Apple, he left his right hand man in charge, and the one who knew the most about the company’s day-to-day business operations. That was Tim Cook, now CEO of Apple.

That’s the first part, the second part is building systems into your business to make sure that your team is able to carry on without 24/7 direction from you the business owner. The systems should answer questions or dilemmas as they come up, but should also leave room for innovation.

Here’s an example: There’s a moment when I know I have a business that runs without me. It’s happened more than once for me and it’s an AHA moment. The most recent was our digital magazine. I created the idea and got the company up and running. I hired an editor with a lot of passion and gave him the tools and the freedom to execute. The magazine grew a lot with only my direction and guidance, and much of the implementation and execution came from the editor. One day while talking about the magazine, he referred to it as his own. He said “my magazine.” He took ownership. This wouldn’t have happened if we didn’t have a clear vision and set up systems for him to scale it.

So ask yourself, what does it mean if your business crumbles without you? If you can't take a few days off here and there, then you haven't built a business, you have built a job.

Next month (in part 2), we are going to show you exactly how to create and leverage systems, and how to get out of your own way so your business can grow and thrive without you.

4.

Conclusion The question should not be if you’re able to take a vacation. It should be how effective is your business going to run without you present.

Again, the purpose of this white paper is to give you a blueprint on how to build a business that runs without you, so you can take that much needed time away.

If you hit roadblocks to creating or developing any of the above, or if you want to chat about how to make your business more efficient, give us a call at 702-582-7301 or visit smithdurant.com to schedule a complementary business consultation.