Do You REALLY Want a Business That Runs Without You?

It’s the dream of every entrepreneur to sit on a beach sipping alcoholic beverages in the sun while money flows easily into their bank accounts with absolutely no effort on their part.

I say it’s a dream, but in reality it’s more like a fantasy. Don’t get me wrong, if that’s truly your ideal lifestyle then there are ways to achieve it, but I believe that most entrepreneurs (especially the ones I work with) have a much different dream.

These entrepreneurs want to wake up excited about their day, not swatting the snooze button for the third time this morning. They want plenty of time to enjoy a latte or send their kids off to school, walk the dog and read the paper. This entrepreneur wants to look forward to every single appointment on the calendar, without fail, each day and look forward to tomorrow even more. 

The business owners I work with don’t want to escape their business for beaches and sand but run their business by constantly reinventing, improving and creating something new. And occasionally doing all of that from a beach or mountain retreat would be great.

These are the people who aren’t interested in abdication but intelligent automation. They’re interested in teams who work together well but also need vision and guidance. There’s software in place that takes some work to set up and maintain but then works harder for your business than you ever thought possible.

Sometimes you like to sit back and watch everything run so smoothly: clients getting content delivered, blog posts published and syndicated, even automatic payments coming in regularly, but you can’t watch for long; you’ve got to tweak and change and adapt.

You’re the type of owner and entrepreneur who doesn’t see their business as an escape hatch from business, but an avenue of freedom and fun where work is like play.

One of my clients has the amazing domain “freedom is the new rich” and it’s so true! It’s the freedom to take a beach vacation or work alongside a sick relative, to write in the early hours of the morning to bad TV or hold regular hours in a downtown office. No matter what your choices may be, it’s the freedom of living that life and running that business that’s a common thread.

Systems can help you achieve the freedom in business you desire, but not as many would imagine. Systems are not all about taking you out of the business and putting you on permanent vacation. These are processes and plans that enable you to keep close tabs on how the business markets, sells, serves and interacts with the world. Because we believe that if you’re in love with your business you don’t want it to run without you, you can’t imagine not taking it to the next level.

You’re not in business for the quick buck, the churn and burn or the chance to escape. You’re an entrepreneur who is authentic and has integrity and who can’t wait to see what systems can create for your business next.