Michael Gerber’s book, The E-Myth, is considered one of the most important business books written in the last 100 years. In this book, Gerber says that time is the most precious commodity for business owners. The idea that success is only gained by long and hard hours spent working is a myth. For the twenty-first century entrepreneur, it is necessary to work smarter, not harder. An entrepreneur can accomplish this by delegating tasks, like ordering office supplies, and focusing instead on the job of getting and keeping customers. You Must Work ‘ON’ Your Business, not ‘IN’ Your Business. If you truly want a successful business, you cannot and should not do everything yourself (or in house).Be an Entrepreneur not a TechnicianYou cannot and should not do everything yourself! Many entrepreneurs struggle when differentiating between lower-paying administrative tasks and high-income generating business growth oriented work. Essentially, time that a business owner spends on administrative duties is a lost opportunity because the owner has less time to develop the company. An entrepreneur focuses on generating income and hires others at a lower cost to maintain what already exists.Standardize Business PracticesEvery business must standardize daily practices or the company will maintain a constant state of chaos and ultimately lead to customer dissatisfaction. Many aspects of an existing business can be reduced to a step-by-step procedure that is repetitive and easy to understand. An operations manual that explains every business function in detail is great because it guides new employees, acts as a reference for existing employees, and maintains a strong company identity. Every single business, no matter how large or small, must have a ‘systematized’ way of doing things. Otherwise your business will operate in constant ‘chaos’ which will ultimately lead to customer dissatisfaction, and probably the failure of your business. A great example of excellent business systems is McDonalds. They have systematized every single aspect of their business so that any new franchisee can open up a McDonalds restaurant and their customers will have nearly the same experience as they have had at any other McDonalds restaurant across the country.Delegate and Focus on Getting and Keeping CustomersThe most successful and well recognized businesses have embraced the advice above. Delegation of menial tasks aides in entrepreneurial efficiency and maximizes earning potential. The best business owners know they cannot waste their talents on mailroom work and must instead use their time to focus on the future of their business.You see, to turn your business into a thriving enterprise you must:
Be focused on growing the business and not each of its individual activities.
Clearly separate the organizational functions as Type I or Type II.
Set up systems that make the business continually more efficient.
Delegate — that means hand off work and/or hire someone else who is probably far more capable in that area than you are. The true definition of an entrepreneur is a ‘Rainmaker’ and a CEO is the ‘Visionary’ responsible for seeing that the job gets done, not necessarily the person who does the job.
Stop and ask yourself regularly, “Can someone else do this job cheaper and more effectively than I can?” If the answer is “Yes,” then delegate the job! It’s really that simple. The only thing a business owner should focus on is getting customers in the door and keeping existing customers happy. All other WORK should be delegated!