Here’s Your Get Out Of Jail Card!

by all outward appearances, a VERY successful entrepreneur.

However, our conversation didn’t revolve around his successes…

but rather about how the more “successful” his business becomes, the more trapped he feels.

His business has become his jail cell.

Making payroll…

Dealing with the endless employee drama…

Drastic swings in revenue…

Constant pushing and prodding to get people to do their jobs…

Never ending stress from having to fix everyone’s mistakes.

Sure he:

Takes nice vacations.

Drives a beautiful car.

Lives in a lovely house.

Has a business business most envy…

But he’s trapped.

He is the glue holding the business together,

If he leaves, even for a day, everything falls apart.

His business has tremendous growth potential,

and yet he keeps self-sabotaging that growth.

Although he talks a good talk…

Speaking eloquently and passionately about his company’s goals and vision…

yet, deep down he dreads having to DEAL with more…

More frustration.

More babysitting.

More anxiety.

More pressure from having to make payroll.

And feeling more trapped.

Is that you?

Do you need a get out of jail card?

If so, here are the steps I gave my friend,

and the same steps you’ll want to take.

Major on the majors

Sure there are a million minor details that make a business work.

And yes, the details matter – a lot.

But for now, stop majoring on the minors.

For example, stop trying to push, beg, and cajole your team to be more productive.

Instead, teach them about labor efficient ratios (Wages to Gross Profit, Wage to Revenue, etc), and explain you’ll be measuring and gauging their performance based on these ratios.

And then…

Give them their brains back

Does your team:

Ask you a million questions each day?

Seek the path of least resistance?

Sit and wait for direction before taking decisive action?

If so, it’s simply because they have NOT been trained to think for themselves.

In an effort to be helpful, you may have created a codependent workforce.

Doing for others what they can and should do for themselves is a breeding ground for codependency.

The first step to reversing codependency is simple:

Don’t give them answers…

Instead give them questions.

When they say, should I do X or Y,

train yourself to respond with a question like,

which do you think is the best option?

If you’re like I used to be,

you probably have the bad habit of giving answers.

I overcame this habit with sticky notes.

I would place them on my desk, in my notebook, and on my computer.

The sticky notes said, Ask. Don’t Answer.

When you ASK instead of ANSWERING you give your team their brains back.

And when they use their brains… it frees yours up.

Audit your time

Ouch!

Sounds terrible!

That’s because it is.

During the early stages of growing your business time didn’t matter.

Whatever needed to be done had to be done regardless of how much time it took you.

That was then.

But this is now.

As Peter Drucker said, What gets measured gets improved.

If you don’t know how your time is being spent,

then it’s impossible to know what can be cut, eliminated, or which areas need MORE time.

Set a 15 minute timer.

Every time it goes off, write down what you did during that block of time.

At the end of the review your time and look for themes.

How much time was spent on email?

How much in meetings?

Etc.

Do this for a week.

This will be one of the most revealing exercises you ever do.

Next, decide what needs to be eliminated, reduced, and expanded…

and then ensure your schedule the following week reflects those changes.

The final step is to have your team do the same exercise.

This trains for both efficiency (doing things quickly), and effectiveness (doing the right, high-value things).

These three steps helped me and several of my clients get out of jail.

Thanks to these steps we are able to now enjoy our businesses.

And as our businesses continue growing, we don’t become more trapped…

we actually become more free.

We don’t possess any magic.

The same is possible for you.

And YOU can have the business you deserve much quicker than you even imagine.

But don’t delay.

Freedom favors the bold.

Act today.

Break free.

Your freedom is waiting!

-wayne