In BusReady we want you to think about what your plans for your business will be. We want you to answer questions like:
- What is my businesses purpose?
- How big do I want this business to be?
- What role do I want to play as it grows?
- How will I exit my business?
For some of you, these might seem like big questions, but it all about “starting with the end in mind”. By pondering some of these questions, and the guidance that the different membership levels that this site provides you will have a virtual partner poking and prompting you. Ultimately we want your business to serve you, and not have you serving your business. Easy to say, but harder to achieve as you will find as your business takes off and grows!
When most founders start a business, they haven’t necessarily done it before. They have an idea to build a better product or service than the competitors that they know in that industry.
But as time goes on and you get deeper in to the business, the realisation comes to most of us, that a better “widget” isnt enough. Business has so many other nuances and requirements to succeed. And you by yourself isn’t enough.
The Business Balance Sheet membership levels are aimed to support you in that journey and introduce you to some tools, processes and support mechanisms to support you. This is about helping you make the transition from founder to owner.
As we said in the introduction we want you to start with the end in mind so that you can lay down the railroads for your business and know when to put the next level of structure in place.
That might sound scary, as many of us start a business to get away from the constraints that the ‘corporate’ world put on us. I was one of those people as well, but as my business grew, I found that the right amount of structure at the right time actually helped me, not hindered me. There was “freedom in the framework”. It also helped define what role I played, and what role I expected others to play. That was liberating not inhibiting.
Now this site is focussed on tools that are about helping the founder transition towards becoming a business owner.
So what is the difference between a founder and an owner?
A founder starts a business. They do whatever it takes. They do whatever role is required, often taking on things that they have never done before in order to help the business succeed.
And here’s the problem, many founders never stop doing that. They stay inside their businesses doing whatever is required, for whomever needs something or needs them. Ultimately, unless they are incredibly special, a high proportion of founders end up feeling trapped by their business. They want the business to grow and succeed but are so used to being the glue that holds everything together they can’t see a way to continue growing the business without being a key part.
To become a business owner is to recognise that you can’t do everything yourself (unless you are super hero). I was interviewed and the video excerpt below gives a flavour:
You can check out the entire interview if you like as well here. It will give you a flavour of my journey and the learnings I went through along the way. I’ll warn you, it does go for a while but it also gives you a pretty good taste of what I want do deliver to you from Business Balance Sheet.
There are plenty of great systems you can look at to adopt in your business that will help you build better operations. Check out:
- GeniusU Entrepreneur Dynamics
- Rockefeller Habits / Scaling Up
- Entrepreneurial Operating System
But, they don’t necessarily help you get yourself out of the way and transition from founder to owner. When you can make that transition you move from “inside out” to “outside in”. And I won’t sugar coat it, it can be confronting. As a founder we know our value, it is in the work we do. Stepping away from that means re-invention. You won’t have the same level of control. You will be dependent on others. And to do that you’ll need some tools, which I can show you. But on the upside your business will be open to be the best version of itself possible. You’ll create the space to do other things be it personally or professionally.
I’m never going to suggest that you can just stop what you are doing now. Today I am a business founder. Tomorrow I am a business owner. Not going to happen. It is a transition and will take some time. That why we say start with the end in mind as it will time to get the business to where you need it to be to serve you in the way you want it to serve.
You’ll need to change a number of practices. This is ultimately going to cost money to put those practices and systems in which means your company is going to need to be big enough to sustain it. If that’s not for you then step away now, but if it’s a journey you want to take start to take the steps.
So if its going to take money then the business finances are going to be critical and you’ll need to learn to understand them and how they work. They don’t have to be scary, but there is effort required.
You can start by downloading “8-Things” here. It will give you a taster of what’s going to be involved.
To get you started lets learn a bit about your business. Take the questionnaire here:
<< questionnaire link >>
<< questionnaire report >>
