I can definitely relate to the life of the business owner, and the inevitable ebb and flow of Entrepreneurial life. There are many hurdles and unforeseen obstacles that need to be dealt with when you launch and grow a business, and as a business owner you rarely get into business knowing what the hardest parts are going to be, until you get there – and then, surprise!

Well, you don’t have to wait that long, I’m revealing this secret to you now. Keep reading.

Entrepreneurialism, and being an independent free-spirited person living life on my own terms is in my bloodline and can be traced back through previous generations of my family’s history. As far as oral history takes me, the first person in my family to branch out into the world of business was my great-uncle who in the 1940’s owned the first and only hotel located downtown Carlin, Nevada (USA). The next person to take to the helm of his own enterprise was my grandfather, who assumed an abandoned Shell gas station in the 1950’s in the south of Italy. My grandfather left the gas station in the capable hands of my grandmother to operate while he immigrated to Canada in search of better opportunities for his family.

More recent evidence of my family’s entrepreneurial spirit brings us to Canada, where my father started his own business as an artisan tile setter in the 1960’s beautifying the homes of Vancouverites like Jimmy Pattison. In the 1980’s my mother joined the ranks of Vancouver’s female business owners by purchasing an independent travel agency with a focus on taking eco tour groups to Italy to feed their love of art, food and wine.

I’ve worked for small businesses, entrepreneurial start-ups, and fast-growth 8-figure companies my entire career, only to find myself coming back full circle to venture out on my own to build my first, and now my second (and current) business, focused on navigating 7-Figure CEOs, Business Owners and Business-to-Business Service Professionals to their next level of growth, using strategy, systems and self-leadership.

One thing I learned early in my business-building journey is that working ON your business, while simultaneously working IN your business is really tough.

And it’s even more difficult, trying to do it alone.

I often talk to my private coaching clients about the journey of the business owner, and how growing a business requires a combination of good business strategy and tactical implementation, plus continuous skill and mindset development. (There are other requirements too, but I’ll save those for another post.)

Developing your mindset as a business owner includes changing the way you think, from thinking (and behaving) like a Doer to a Manager and ultimately to a Leader/Coach.

• The Doer is the person who is actively working towards the goal in a hands-on way. Think of the doer as the mechanic (or technician); they are the one changing the oil, flushing the carburetor, and rotating the tires. They’re not thinking about how far the car has to travel or where the final destination is going to be; they are simply tuning up the car.
• The Manager is the person who has a moderately tight grip on what is taking place within the business. The main concern of the manager is results. If a doer works on a project, a manager works on employees (or contractors). They ensure that everything is getting done. The manager is concerned with delegating tasks; not doing the tasks, nor crafting the vision.
• The Leader is the person that equips and empowers others to carry out the mission of the organization. They avoid getting caught up in the details and instead work on building, cultivating and encouraging their team. A leader is concerned with vision.

The reality is, however, that sacrifices and adjustments have to be made to go from doing and managing to leading. No one can make the jump overnight; small, consistent steps have to be taken. And nobody can make this journey alone.

This is the hardest part about growing a business, that nobody warns you about.

It’s nearly impossible to grow a sustainable and profitable business being in Doer mode all the time because you are always working IN the business and operating in short-term doing-mode (resulting in reactive rather than proactive behaviour, constantly having to put out fires, no time for holidays, working too many weekends, juggling too many balls, flat growth, inconsistent revenue, and more.) Doing-mode is a risky place to operate from for any length of time because it’s unsustainable. If you’re like me, you didn’t get into business to work more hours and have less freedom. But if your business feels like Groundhog Day, I assure you it doesn’t have to be that way.

Creating and prioritizing the time to work ON the business invites more of a long-term, growth perspective, so that you can evaluate how you need to pivot with changes in the market, how to adjust your marketing and sales strategies, when to build your team and upgrade your operational systems, and move your business into a place of sustainable and profitable growth, which leads to increased joy, confidence, income and bottom line results.

When you’re ready to build a more sustainable and profitable business that truly gives you the freedom and fulfillment that you originally wanted when you first launched your venture, you may be interested in learning more about my Scale and Leverage Program. I created it with you in mind.

To your success,