Many Small Business Owners are under the impression that if they can make money, then they’ll have freedom. They equate having the money to do all the things they want to do is freedom. Actually, it’s not and I learned this the hard way.
I worked in the legal field at a Fortune 100 law firm. The firm had offices across the nation but I worked at the Atlanta office located in the prestigious Buckhead area. I made great money that afforded me a lot of things, including a huge house in the ‘burbs zoned for some of the best schools in the state. There was little that I wanted that I couldn’t afford for myself and my family.
A flex schedule of what time I had to be in the office because I never knew when I would leave. A house perfect for entertaining, but I was always too tired to host anything. A budget for traveling the world, but I often had to choose rest and relaxation over adventure and exploration. The illusion of freedom. You see freedom is not money; true freedom is time ownership. Here are four considerations to create true freedom with your small business.
Mindset & Reality. Start with the end in mind. As entrepreneurs, we hear this phrase a lot and it applies to so much: service, marketing, goals, etc… In this case, start your business flow with freedom in mind. Drop the mindset that if you put in long hours now that freedom will come. It may… but how long will it take? How worn out will you be? To avoid the rat race, don’t start it. Start your entrepreneurial journey by creating a business around the freedom that you want to experience. Want to be present for kids? Have time on your schedule to be a class parent or to safeguard time to support sports. Want to nurture a relationship? Set and respect your hard stop for the end of day and end of the week to create quality time. Want to show up as the best you, rather than a too-tired, used-up version? Choose your time and schedule things around it. Building your business with these things already in place is the start of building the freedom you want to experience.
Discipline & Productivity. Having business boundaries and discipline are important. The first step is to reserve time on your calendar for the things you regard as a priority. You safeguard that time by 1) not allowing others to encroach on that time by holding your boundary to keep that time for your assigned priority and 2) you honor that time by actually getting done what you said you would during that time. Not having boundaries gives your time to others and you may never have the time for yourself or your business. Not having discipline means you never get done the things you have assigned to move your business forward and therefore you waste time. I created a system to help you manage your time and productivity. Check it out HERE.
Active & Less Active Income. How much of your time goes to your business can heavily depend on your business model. How much active income do you perform in your business (the type of revenue that takes you actively doing something in exchange for the money received)? For example, as a Fractional Chief Operating Officer, I work in my retainer clients’ businesses actively day-to-day. How much passive income do you earn in your business (the type of revenue that takes less of you to give value in exchange for the money received)? For example, I have written books that once written, I can sell over and over again without performing. However, I also have a course. I did most of the “performing” when I recorded the modules and I am less active with bi-weekly question and answer sessions. As it is not totally passive as most define it, I call it less active income. I am still not performing as frequently as most services. Having a great balance in these types of incomes can create freedom in your business.
Tech & Teams. You can only do so much by yourself. As a solopreneur, you can easily grow your business. Growth simply means more than you had; so more clients or more money. But you are hard-pressed to scale your business alone. I define scale as limitless growth serviced in excellence. You need help to scale. Start with technology. What technology can you employ to get things done that don’t need a person? Go through your client journey process and assign technology to fill gaps in service. I talked about some automations needed for business freedom in my Thrive Global article HERE. The remaining gaps are filled with people resources. At some point in scaling your business, you will need more human touch points and that is where you hire people. It really does take teamwork to make the dream work and earn more of your time back as you service clients in excellence.
Want to talk about how to best organize your time, your balance of active and less active income, or the tech and team that you need for your business freedom? Let’s talk. ShaCannon.info/talk