The term working ON the business not just IN was first introduced by Michael Gerber more than 35 years ago. It is an essential idea that all successful business builders and entrepreneurs understand.
Ask yourself:
Do I want to build a great business or create a job for myself?
You may be a brilliant technician who has learned his ‘trade’ well, now it’s time to learn how to build and lead a great business. You must shift your energy from working IN the business to working ON the business.
Your time is your most precious asset and not every hour you spend has equal value. While it can all feel important, some things provide more value to the business than others. Start thinking about what tasks or roles give you and your business leverage.
Definition of Leverage: to use (something) to maximum advantage – in this case, to use your time to gain maximum advantage for your business. Keep the idea of leverage front of mind while we consider the 6 role categories in a business.
The visionary – Provide a clear and compelling picture of the future.
This is an important role and not just a characteristic of some leaders. The Owner MUST invest the time to do this role if the business is going to be successful. The work of this role is to imagine and communicate the future picture for the business to internal and external stakeholders. This is not a one-off task but critical ongoing ON work.
This includes time to focus on the market or business environment, look at trends, and what products or services are you building to meet the gap in the market.
The members of your Leadership Team also need to do Visionary work as they understand and help communicate the Vision throughout the business.
The strategist– Design the business you want.
In this role, you’re putting the meat on the bones of the Vision. What is your strategy to be successful, how do you ‘design’ your business to serve your customers and deliver on your Vision and Strategy? How do you embed the Culture you want for the business? This is often called strategic work – it is ON work.
The engineer – Design and embed replicable systems.
Creating systems and processes for scalability and growth. Making a sale is IN work – building a sales system that others can use provides leverage for the business and is ON work.
If you are spending a lot of time ‘managing’ people and processes, then you need to look at how you are systemising your business.
The coach – Supporting the development of others.
Investing in the development and growth of the team of people around you is essential for your business to scale. When leaders move from doing to coaching others to do they are doing work that leverages their time.
The technician – Hands-on, task-focused work.
Many businesses start because the owner has a passion for a particular trade or is very skillful at a particular craft. Technician roles are also required to run the business, such as recruitment and payroll, accounts payable and receivable, or IT support.
The technician’s work is important to the running of a business, and you probably started your business holding many if not all Technician roles. While important they do not provide you with the opportunity to leverage your time and skills.
*A special note on the role of the Salesman
The Salesman – Bringing customers into the business
This is still a technician’s role but it’s worth focusing on separately because this can often be the last ‘technician’ role that the owner hands over.
Most owners focus on networking or generating sales, both are obviously highly important to growing a business but, depending on your business model a single sale is an event and doesn’t offer leverage.
So… that means you need to start over… and go get another sale.
Like any other function in the business, we encourage Owners to ‘Systemise’ this part of their business as soon, and as much as possible. Networking and creating strategic partners can be considered ON work because it provides leverage for your business, making a single sale probably does not.
The caretaker – Keeping the place running
This is the work of running the office, fixing the photocopier, organising the cleaning, and all the day-to-day ‘dirty’ tasks that need to be done to keep the place running smoothly and being a welcoming place for staff and customers. Again, an important role but one as the owner you want to get out of ASAP.
Prioritise the ON work
In essence, your focus needs to be on the Vision for the future, growth, improvement, and innovation. It's about setting the direction and pace of the business rather than getting bogged down in daily tasks. While it's crucial to balance both aspects, especially in the early stages of a business, the goal should be to progressively work more "on" and less "in" as the business matures
The Visionary, Strategist, Engineer, and Coach all provide leverage for the business, so this is where you want to spend as much of your time as possible.
The sooner you can get out of most if not all IN roles the sooner you can start the exciting journey of being a business builder.
Start today developing some healthy habits that will support you to prioritise the important ON work.
Get real with yourself.
If you want a great business, you are going to have to commit time to build it. There is no such thing as success without time and commitment. Too often we hear business owners lamenting… but no one else can do the work, I just can’t get to it, we are just too busy, and so on and so on. If you hear yourself saying these things, ask yourself again….
Do I want to build a great business or create a job for myself?
Identify all the IN roles
Anything you currently do as a Technician, Salesman, or Caretaker, and create a plan to hand over as many as possible. It may take some time to hand over. You may need to recruit new people or train existing staff. Maybe you are currently doing the invoicing and payroll – could you hire someone or contract that work out? Bank all your IN roles and create a plan for handover.
Book visionary ON time in your diary NOW
Be intentional about the long game, don’t just squeeze this work in when you get a minute. Book time in your diary NOW, you could call it Build my Business or Visionary Time. Even if it’s just 2 hours a week that’s a start. Let everyone in the business know that it’s non-negotiable this is your personal ON the business time and it cannot be traded under any circumstances.
Build a leadership team and stick to the business cadence
An Organisation Leadership Team who are disciplined and focused on developing and implementing strategy.
Schedule one-on-one time with your key people
You can’t do this on your own. Making time to connect, listen, coach, and support the people who are going to help you build this business is essential.
Understand the journey