Show notes
When people think about becoming an entrepreneur, they're not thinking about working 24 hours a day. They're thinking about getting to some point where there is quality of life. "Be my own boss. Decide what I want to do." But how many entrepreneurs ever get there? And what does that have to do with breaking free?
David: Hi, and welcome to the podcast. Today, co-host Jay McFarland and I will be discussing the topic of Breaking Free of Your Business. Welcome, Jay.
Jay: Wow, it's good to be here. Welcome. Thank you.
David: So we've been talking about this topic now for a few weeks. And I was wondering, what are your thoughts when you think of that as an entrepreneur, as a business owner, as it relates to entrepreneurs, business owners and salespeople? What's your initial thought that comes to mind when you hear a topic like that?
What Does Breaking Free Mean to You?
Jay: Well, it's funny. I think most entrepreneurs aren't thinking of breaking free of their business. I think it's exactly the opposite. I'm going to dive in. We always hear that if you're going to be an entrepreneur, you've got to give it your heart and your soul. And instead, we're talking about doing just the opposite. I think for a lot of people, they're going to hear that and say, "wait a minute, why would I want to do that, even in the first place?"
David: Yeah. That's a great question. And what I've been finding is that a lot of people, particularly solo business owners and salespeople, get to the point where they've got so much going on, they're tied to so many different things that they feel stuck. They really feel like they're tied to their business. Like it's an anchor around them.
The idea of breaking free from one's business basically means, okay, how can I let go or delegate the things that I don't like to do? I'm not good at. That don't generate much money. So that I can focus my time and attention -- my limited time and attention -- on the things that actually move the needle for myself and my business. So that's really what we're talking about here.
Jay: Well, I think it's fantastic because I know when people think about becoming an entrepreneur, they're not thinking about working 24 hours a day. I know they're thinking about getting to some point where there's quality of life, right? Where I can be my own boss. I can decide what I want to do. But how many entrepreneurs ever get there? Oftentimes they get exactly the opposite effect. Right?
Breaking Free to Improve Quality of Life
David: Exactly. And it's true of so many people who start a business. And this whole conversation started because of a relationship I have with the guy who wrote the book, The E-Myth Revisited, Michael Gerber. And I've been familiar with his work for years. We spoke at a number of the same trade shows.
I had a chance to talk to him and tell him how much I loved the book, The E-Myth. I mentioned that, as a result of his advice, I was able to structure my businesses better. In addition, I was able to buy and sell businesses. I said, "it's the best 11 bucks I ever spent" (laughs.) He got a kick out of that because obviously, it was worth a whole lot more than that. But over the years, what I've realized is that for many of us, the idea of creating the type of business we want to live in is really appealing. But doing it seems to be the part where people get stuck.
Jay: Yeah. And how do you let go? You know, I'm sure you started out as an entrepreneur doing everything and slowly, hopefully, you've brought in more staff. But how do you trust and let go? Because for them, it may be a day job. For you, it's your life! And so, just giving those little pieces of responsibility away, it's difficult.
David: It is very difficult. And for a lot of people, it seems impossible. But the biggest reason that happens is that in a lot of cases, what we try to do is to just sort of push it off on somebody and run (laughs). That never leads to good results.
So the whole idea of breaking away is okay, how do I do this in a way where I can trust that the work that needs to get done is going to be getting done in a way that is consistent with, if not the way that I do it myself, at least the way that I want to have it done. And in some cases, the people that we hire to do it, ideally should be able to do a better job than we can do. Particularly when we're talking about tasks that we may not be thrilled about doing to begin with.
Delegation Should Not be Micro-Managed
Jay: Yeah. I think there's that, you know, giving it to them and then walking away. I've experienced just the opposite of that. Somebody who thinks they're a great delegator. But they're really not delegating at all because they're micro-managing you to the point where you're like, "why do I even have this position?" So I feel like there's kind of the two ends of the spectrum.
David: No, that's a great point. It is. It's two sides of the same coin. So on the one hand, you have people who delegate by abdication essentially.
Jay: Mm-hmm.
David: "You take it." And then there are other people who say, "okay, I'm going to give this to you, but I'm going to be looking over shoulder every step of the way." And neither of those scenarios are good for anybody. It's not good for the person who's delegating and it's not good for the person who's being delegated to. So in both situations, in both circumstances, the key to that is really going to be effective delegation.
How can I delegate something to someone else in a way that is designed to create a consistent result in the business. So that I can then turn my attention and my focus on something else? Whether it's doing something else in the business that I enjoy doing better, or whether it's finding something else that I can delegate to that person or to someone else so that I can continue to essentially extricate myself from the business.
Many Don't Think in Terms of Breaking Free
David: You raised a great point at the top of this with is the fact that a lot of people don't think in terms of breaking free of their businesses, they want to be in the middle of it. But what ends up happening is people sort of end up creating a cocoon around themselves. They're building this thing around them and they're in the center of it. And they get all their people coming to them and asking them questions and everything has to go through them.
Well, what happens if you have to go on vacation? Or what happens if you're sick for a few days, or if you have to be out of the office? That's not the kind of business that is really sustainable at that point. Because it's entirely dependent on the business owner. I refer to it as a "You-Centric" business or a "Me-Centric" business. If the business depends entirely on me, it's also almost impossible to sell. Because who wants to buy a business that is entirely dependent on the previous owner to make all the decisions and to operate it.
Jay: Yeah, it's a great point. I think what I see a lot is people saying, "Well, I'll delegate when I find the perfect employee. When I find somebody who looks at things the way I do, and they have the same passion that I do." And you and I both know, finding that perfect employee that is going to care the way you do and show the same discipline and those kinds of things. It's kind of impossible, isn't it?
David: It really is. And I hate to say that because I want to say, "oh no, it's absolutely possible!" And I suppose it is possible. But what is more likely, is finding someone, and this is something that I've maintained for a long time. It is far easier to teach a good person the technical aspects of a job, than it is to find somebody who's good at the technical aspects of a job and teach them to be a good person. Right? To teach, be the kind of person that you want to delegate to and that you can trust.
So I think step one is finding somebody that you have that trust with. And then step two is having a process for delegation that allows you to comfortably and confidently hand those tasks off. So that person can do them in a way that, right out of the box, is 80% as good as you could do it.
Then you could then provide feedback and input in order to get them the other 20% of the way there. So that within a short period of time, you have somebody who you trust. Someone who's got the systems in place that will allow them to be successful at the task, which you've delegated to them.
Systems Improve Quality of Life for Everyone
Jay: Yeah. I love this idea of having a system in place. I think what happens in most workplaces when something happens when there's a failure, they look for somebody to blame. Instead of looking for the place where their system fell down, right? We have to look at our training. Were they properly trained? We have to look at our follow-up. What happened here in the process where things fell apart? Instead of just looking for that, you know, "I'll put the finger on you, you're in trouble, don't do that anymore." And then we move on.
David: Exactly. And I think the key to that are what I refer to as delegation docs. Delegation documents. Which is essentially a checklist. Or it's a numbered, bullet-pointed list of "this is what to do, in this order," in order to accomplish the result that I'm looking to accomplish on this particular task. And they are actually really pretty easy to create.
One of the things that I did in my own business and that I encourage my clients to do is to utilize these delegation documents, to create processes. So you can essentially do the task one last time. And as you're doing it, you're documenting the steps. Or you're having the person you're delegating it to, document the steps. That's even better.
And then at that point, you switch roles and you say, "okay, take this list of things that you put together, or I put together, go through it and let's see what happens.