“Working On Your Business, Not In It”
“We are continually faced by great opportunities brilliantly disguised as insoluble problems.” Lee Iococca
This is what I did, and what most small business owners have done.
We start a business because we want to be our own boss, set our own schedule, and go as we please. We never want to answer to anyone, ever again. Unfortunately, it’s never as easy as we thought.
I think Michael Gerber said it best when he said…
“If you’re working in your business, and NOT on your business, you don’t have a business you have a job. And worst of all, you’re working for a lunatic.”
If you’ve never read E-Myth by Michael Gerber, I highly recommend it.
Why should you be working on your business and not in it?
So your business runs without you having to physically, and constantly be there, day in, and day out. Once you step back from working in your business, to working on it, you’ll have more time to boost your bottom line, attract more clients, and set up the proper systems that will eventually allow you more freedom.
Let me throw this scenario at you – let’s say for the purpose of this example you work five to six days a week in your salon, and you make one hundred thousand dollars per year (your personal gross income.)
Would it make sense to only work two to three days each week in your salon and only make seventy thousand?
I hope you said yes. But what I’ll reveal to you is how you can double your income and still only work two to three days a week by working on three keys factors and setting goals.
1. Marketing your salon consistently and cost effectively
2. Getting your current clients spending more
3. Setting up systems in your business so that anyone can run the day to day operations
Let’s take a closer look…
Let’s say we have two salon owners, one makes one hundred thousand dollars a year, and the other forty thousand dollars.
Who has the better lifestyle?
If you based your answer on income then obviously you would have chosen salon owner number one.
But, what if salon owner number one worked sixty hours a week. Rarely spent quality time with family or friends, and only took one week off each year for vacation.
On the other hand. Salon owner number two worked twenty hours per week, spent weekends at the beach with family and friends, and was able to take four weeks of vacation per year.
Now who has the better lifestyle?
Need a closer look? Okay, if salon owner number one is earning $100,000.00 a year (salary) working 60 hours a week. Their weekly gross income would be $1,923.07 AND their hourly rate would be $32.05
If salon owner number two is earning $40,000.00 a year (salary) and working 20 hours a week. Their weekly gross income would be $769.23 AND their hourly rate would be $38.47
So who has the better lifestyle? Hmmmm, need a minute?
If you’re styling hair all day, or doing nails, you’re NOT doing the most important task at hand. Which is marketing to bring in new and existing clients, and setting up systems.
You may love to do the hair, nails, or facials, but that’s NOT where the money is. The money and your freedom are in your ability to attract and keep clients. The more clients you have the more money you’ll make.
It’s that simple!
Then, and only then, will you hold the power to design your business around your desired lifestyle. If you never come to this conclusion, unfortunately ten years from now you’ll still be working “in” your business.
When I first started my investment company I thought I needed to do everything. I wore all the hats. I was the secretary, the acquisition agent, the sales agent, the accountant, and the marketing rep. I did it all and I was literally killing myself and my business.
I had no time for family or myself. I started to hate going to work.
The point I’m trying to make is that you can make twice as much as you’re currently making if you get out of your own way. If you focus on what really makes you money, and it’s not styling hair or doing nails . It’s all about client attraction, client retention, and sales systems. It’s about running a business, NOT working in it. Now I understand that when we first start a business we have to work in it. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t be working in it, AND on it simultaneously.
Step back and take a look at where you’re going
Have you ever been so busy in your business that you forgot to take the time to “plan the business”?
As an entrepreneur we tend to get over-whelmed working in our business. Sometimes we forget to stop and think about, or plan how our businesses can actually support the lifestyle we desire.
Unfortunately for some, they end up being held captive in a business they once thought was their freedom. Only because they failed to plan. When we’re not paying attention, life just gets away from us if we’re not careful. The days fly by, and the next thing you know, it’s December. We find ourselves exhausted, over worked, and quietly mumbling to ourselves… “Where did the year go”?
I don’t know about you, but I don’t know any salon owners who started their business because they wanted a place to work. For the most part we all start a business because of what we thought the business would do for us.
• Higher income
• More freedom
• More Time with family and friends
• Help our community
• Longer vacations
• Nicer home
• Better educations for our kids – and so on
Here’s a quote I came up with one night after finishing a book, and reflecting on my journey.
“If you don’t take the time to work on your business instead of in it, the business you once thought was the key to your freedom, could easily become your captor.”
Think about that for a moment. If you don’t start to plan your business around your wants, needs, and expectations. When you finally wake up you’ll realize that the business hasn’t provided the freedom which you had hoped, but the imprisonment you tried so hard to avoid.
Talk soon,



























