“David, what’s the craziest excuse you consistently hear from business owners about why they aren’t growing?”
It’s simple. It’s the business owner who says, “My business is special. I can’t scale it because there is no way it could function without me.”
Sure, there is no way it function without you now, but that’s not a fundamental truth of your business forever, it is merely a description of your business as it exists today.
Too many business owners think that they have the “one in ten thousand” business that simple cannot be grown to independent of them the owner.
Sure they see it’s possible for other business owners, many of whom they even know personally, but just not for them.
The medical professional says, “I see how a manufacturer could do it, but I’m a doctor. My business could never function independent of me.”
And the manufacturer says, “I see how an accountant could do it, but I’m the lead engineer for my manufacturing business. I’m the one who drives all innovation. Without me my business would wither and die.”
Then the accountant says, “I see how a doctor could do it, but I’m a tax specialist. If I’m not there doing returns or checking that my staff is doing the forms correctly, clients would leave me.”
The ironies abound.
I just want to quickly give you a reality check by sharing with you 6 quick examples of how varied businesses who went from “special” to “owner independent”. Considering each is a business coaching client, I can share first hand that each has not only experienced strong growth, but in a relatively short time frame (1-3 years) has radically decreased their companies’ reliance on them the owner.
All of these companies are mature businesses who for many years prior to our involvement had grown and developed the traditional way, which made them heavily reliant on the owner for day-to-day functioning and success. Yet once they confronted their own limiting beliefs about the “specialness” of their business, and gave a hard look at ways to progressively wean the business off of its reliance on themselves, that made swift progress.
Paul Robinson, Ensunet Technology Group. Over the past 24 months, Paul took his one man, high end I.T. consulting company to sales of over $1 million per year, while increasing Owner Independence by 400 percent.
Dr. Shekhar Challa, Kansas Medical Clinic. Over the past 12 months he grew his thriving 6-location, multi-disciplinary medical group by 12 percent while at the same time increasing his practice’s “Owner Independence” by 50 percent.
Liz McDonald, Blackwell Realty. In the past 24 months, Liz and her partner Patrick Blood grew their boutique property management and brokerage company by 463 percent, at the same time increasing Owner Independence by 600 percent.
Ira Horowitz, City Global. In the past year, Ira and his partner Edward have grown their multi-million dollar product development company 29 percent, at the same time increasing Owner Independence by 67 percent.
Caleb Preston, Alaska Financial. Over the past 24 months Caleb and his dad Tobias grew their financial services firm by 121 percent while at the same time increasing Owner Independence of their firm by 60 percent.
Dr. Tom Umbach, Blossom Bariatrics. He grew his surgery practice by 50 percent while at the same time increasing his practice’s “Owner Independence” by 280 percent.
I think you’re seeing the pattern here.
What if the real limiting factor holding your business back from growing independent of you was your stubborn insistence that it could never function properly without you (or even with less of you)?
If this were true, then it’s possible for you to get growth, and create more time freedom for yourself too. Plus, best of all, doing both these things will make your business better and stronger.
Certainly gives you food for thought…
If any of this article touched a nerve, here’s a great resource to help you scale your business the right way: a free tool kit with 21 in-depth video trainings to help you scale your business and get your life back, click here.