Obviously because of what I do I help a lot of business owners who are struggling – and I often find it’s their thoughts that need more work than their business.
If you’ve been running a business for any length of time then it’s easy to become submerged in the operational detail and lose sight of what the primary purpose of the business is. Instead of identifying your market and developing products and services that serve that market you have become consumed by non-core issues such as IT, Accounts, Management, HR and sundry minutiae like arranging recycling collections and fixing the kettle.
This short-sighted fire fighting leads to a lack of strategic direction, which in turn leads to a decrease in performance for the business – smarter competitors enter the market, your turnover and margins come under pressure and your enthusiasm for the business consequently starts to wain.
You are then left wondering if it is all worthwhile – not only do you spend your days doing stuff you’re neither trained to do nor have any desire to do (those contract amendments you have to understand or those disciplinary meetings you have to have with an underperforming employee) – but you’re not getting paid properly for it either. And on top of that your business is now going backwards and you seem not to have the time, desire or energy to do anything about it.
Sound familiar? But notice what’s at fault here. Every business on the planet will come under pressure at some stage – it’s impossible for it not to. What is unusual in this situation is that the owner is too consumed by detail to help their own business, and consequently they are too tired and worn out to have the clarity of thought about what needs doing.
That’s why in my line of work I find that it’s the owner’s head that needs sorting out first and then the business solutions will follow. Most owners know the answers to their business problems if they could just find the time, space and energy to work on them.
My job is to show you how to find that time, space and energy.
