Create a Business That Doesn"t Need You
One of the workshops that I attended at the 2012 New Jersey Women's Entrepreneurship Series was about revamping your financial strategies.
Although it was partly about how to prepare a business plan, the discussion about creating a business that works when you aren't there is what caught my attention.
There are many businesses out there that consist of one person and maybe some support staff.
These businesses are totally dependent on the business owner being in the office and doing the work.
Examples of these types of businesses are solo accountants, financial planners, architects, computer consultants, event planners, dog care businesses, and life/business/wellness coaches.
These business owners can't go on vacation without taking files with them, can't earn any money if they are not doing the work, and cannot sell their businesses when they want to retire.
Most business owners don't really want this kind of business.
They may not want to build an empire, and maybe they can't see their business becoming the next hot thing, but most business owners want to make money from their business without needing to be there.
In order to create that type of business, you must shift your thinking.
You must plan how to grow your business so that it is not entirely dependent on you.
If you are in a service business, you must think in terms of how to create and sell something else that is related to your core service, something that can be sold to the public without you doing the work (typically this will be an information product that you do once and then replicate as needed).
And you must strategize how to create a business brand that is not entirely driven by you.
If you sold your customer list to someone else, would your customers/clients do business with that someone else (even with a recommendation from you) or would they look elsewhere? If you create a business brand for a company and not for you personally, you have a better chance of selling your business to a third party.
You must look at your business and determine what aspects of it are valuable to other people, both while you own the business and when you are looking to sell the business.
It takes time and brainstorming and working on a plan to create this kind of business that doesn't need you there.
This is the kind of business from which owners make the most money and have the least amount of stress.
Although it was partly about how to prepare a business plan, the discussion about creating a business that works when you aren't there is what caught my attention.
There are many businesses out there that consist of one person and maybe some support staff.
These businesses are totally dependent on the business owner being in the office and doing the work.
Examples of these types of businesses are solo accountants, financial planners, architects, computer consultants, event planners, dog care businesses, and life/business/wellness coaches.
These business owners can't go on vacation without taking files with them, can't earn any money if they are not doing the work, and cannot sell their businesses when they want to retire.
Most business owners don't really want this kind of business.
They may not want to build an empire, and maybe they can't see their business becoming the next hot thing, but most business owners want to make money from their business without needing to be there.
In order to create that type of business, you must shift your thinking.
You must plan how to grow your business so that it is not entirely dependent on you.
If you are in a service business, you must think in terms of how to create and sell something else that is related to your core service, something that can be sold to the public without you doing the work (typically this will be an information product that you do once and then replicate as needed).
And you must strategize how to create a business brand that is not entirely driven by you.
If you sold your customer list to someone else, would your customers/clients do business with that someone else (even with a recommendation from you) or would they look elsewhere? If you create a business brand for a company and not for you personally, you have a better chance of selling your business to a third party.
You must look at your business and determine what aspects of it are valuable to other people, both while you own the business and when you are looking to sell the business.
It takes time and brainstorming and working on a plan to create this kind of business that doesn't need you there.
This is the kind of business from which owners make the most money and have the least amount of stress.
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