How you view your business in relation to your own individual freedom will determine how far your business will take you…OR how far you take your business.
Being in a small business for the past 13 years I have enjoyed the freedom of deciding what I spend my time on, who I see, which clients get my attention and when I have ‘leisure’ or ‘family’ time.
The flipside to this is most of us go through a period where our business tends to demand too much of our time and our days blur into one and it feels like we are tied tightly to keeping our business afloat. This usually happens in the ‘start up’ faze or when finances/staffing are strained.
With the recent boom in Tauranga I am hearing more and more that small business owners are overloaded, working late, highly stressed and struggling to get all their work done. It certainly makes me wonder if this “freedom” is really worth it.
And that is the reality of being in business … in one hand you gain a certain amount of freedom yet in another you lose a different kind of freedom ….and more of your time is needed to keep customers/staff/contractors happy …at times it seems as though it may never end.
Ultimately your business needs to work for you and not the other way around. Of course in the growth stages; you do need to work very hard, put the long hours in and be COMMITTED to your business’ growth. Because freedom does come at a cost and unlike employment there isn’t guaranteed wages coming in every week to pay the bills…a business owner has to chase their income, make sure work is completed on time and hopefully get paid by clients …on time.
So when you are working on your strategic plan remember to factor in it that at some point …your business needs to buy back your freedom.
And if freedom to you means …you get to choose the work you do, go on holiday when you please, work a 3 day work week or even take an extended 6 week holiday then celebrate that when it arrives.
The trick is working out HOW and WHEN this happens. From a strategic stand point – I would suggest you work out the stages you need to progress through to achieve freedom from your business and the resources and people that you need along the way to make this happen.
But you must remember that your freedom can only be defined by YOU!
I have experienced this kind of FREEDOM in one season in my business …the bills still got paid, clients were still happy and I still had a business. This was certainly a blissful time. I still worked but I was able to juggle a young family and pick and choose how and when I worked.
The unfortunate thing is …life is full of change and in my case the global recession had a big impact on my business model. This has launched me back into my business working as furiously as ever and wondering how I can ever balance this much workload on my own. AGAIN, my freedom affected.
However we must remember; it is in our commitment to our business that we will find the drive to fight against all odds to succeed. In an essence we as business owners are fighting for our freedom rather than freedom being immediate.
In business the words “commitment and freedom” go hand in hand and when you embrace how this relates to you – you will find that place of fulfilment within yourself and your business.
If you have just started out in business or have been in business for quite some time… I would love for you to ponder these two following questions…
- What am I committed to change in my business to achieve the freedom I desire?
- What freedoms am I willing to give up in order to be more committed to my business success?
If you are looking for business support and not sure where to begin we would love you to come along to our next INfuzed Business Group meeting – you will be glad you did!
You can register as a guest FREE of charge by emailing me directly on [email protected]