What should business ownership look like for your work focus and life? One of the most common issues that I hear from business owners is that they are swamped by the demands of their business every day. They feel more like an employee than an owner. So, as an owner, what should you be doing? How should owning the business be different than managing the business or working “in” the business every day.

The focus of business ownership

Below is a list of what I believe are the six areas of focus that should occupy your time as a business owner.

GENERATING REVENUE: You no longer spend time selling (you’ve hired a person or a team), but you are 100% accountable for revenue. Stay in tune with your customers and the market, your competitors, industry trends, and keep a very clear line of site on the revenue forecast for two, three, six months in advance where possible. This is first, first, and FIRST!

COMPANY FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE: You KNOW YOUR NUMBERS! – You receive and analyze the appropriate financial reports regularly (monthly at a minimum) to know the story of your business past, present, and future.

HIRING THE RIGHT PEOPLE (getting the right people on the bus and in the right seats). You hire, place, retain, and trust high-quality individuals to manage key areas of your business and you ensure they hire high-quality individuals that they can trust to get the job done.

PRUNING INFECTIONS – You never allow negative, unhappy people to stay in your business. Either make sure the issues are resolved productively or give individuals the opportunity to find another place where they can be happy and productive. They are infections that will destroy your business.

COMMUNICATING AND EVALUATING OUTCOMES – You provide the vision (the destination) and the outcomes (the “what we need to accomplish”) to lead your company to that vision. Lead with the outcomes, let those you hired and trust decide “how” to get there.

INSPIRING YOUR BUSINESS FORWARD – Your passion is the heart of your business. Share your passion. Share your “why” – why your business exists – and communicate to inspire others often. Keep your passion focused on innovating and staying ahead of the market. Encourage all to ideate and share ideas.

ENJOYING YOUR LIFE – You find time to step back and enjoy your life now. You are not constantly saying that “one day” you will enjoy your life. You own your business, it does not OWN YOU.

What if your business owns you?

What if you aren’t at that place as an owner? What if, instead, you instead identify more with the following list:

  • Business is not scaling effectively and in fact, your business revenue/results are like one big “yo-yo”
  • You can’t seem to hire the “right” employees and when you do, they leave
  • With few exceptions, you feel constant stress
  • You work long hours but you never get to the “important” decisions
  • You always feel like you and your business are “reacting” instead of acting “proactively”
  • You forgot why you started the business and maybe even doubt that decision
  • Everyone seems to need to ask you what to do
  • You keep wondering where the payoff is for being the owner

If you identify with this list, then you are likely still working in your business as an employee-manager vs. leading your business as an owner. But why? Why have you not made that transition to focus on ownership and enjoy ownership?

The most common roadblocks to business ownership

Generally, I find that the business owners/entrepreneurs I work with get mired down in running of their business for one of three reasons:

  • One group of business owners are unwilling to relinquish the role of “doing.” They like control. They like being in the center of things. They want to make all the “how” decisions and some even feel like nobody else can do as good a job as they can. They generally have big egos and just cannot get out of their own way.
  • Another group of owners are just more “comfortable” doing and are afraid to step outside of their comfort zone to lead. They just don’t know “how” to get there or are afraid to fail. They know they won’t fail at their trade (the doing) because they are confident in their work. Leadership sounds riskier.
  • The last group just don’t know the difference. They just plug away day after day and think stay so busy they have never considered why they feel the way they do. They might even recognize some things as important, but can never get to them.

Consequences of abdicating business ownership

The consequences of doing nothing to move into a true ownership role lead to these classic traps that have stymied entrepreneurs since the first business was started.

  1. If you remain in an employee-manager role, your business will never scale beyond you. You will have those ups and downs, but consistent growth will elude because of your own limitations to keep up.
  2. You will not keep good people because they want to be empowered and not controlled.
  3. You will experience stress on a regular basis and this will bleed into every area of your life.
  4. You may survive as a lifestyle business if you have a good market, but probably not.

What life do you want?

Which are you? Are you already living the life of an owner in the fullest sense? Are you ready to lead instead of manage?  Do you have the conviction to perhaps rebuild your business from the ground up (e.g., right people, trust, let go of control, train others well)?  Are you ready to be vulnerable and learn what you don’t know yet?  Get an executive coach. Join an executive peer group. Network with other successful business owners. Whatever you do remember – doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results is a definition of insanity.