By Howard Partridge
Do you remember why you went into business for yourself? Was it to make a lot of money? Or was it to “be your own boss”… to “chart your own course”…to have a little more “free” time? Yeah right! The brutal reality of most small business owners’ lives is that you feel like a slave to the business. There’s very little family time; there’s major stress; there’s no real freedom, the business consumes your mind 24/7; and you feel like you have a job rather than a business. Your day is consumed “putting out brush fires”! Can you relate to that? I sure can.
I’m originally from L.A. (Lower Alabama!). I grew up on welfare in Mobile, Alabama and there were 7 kids crammed in a little 600 square foot shack. The roof on that house was so bad that every time it rained, we had to get out all the pots and pans to catch the leaks. My mama somehow fed us on one hundred dollars a month she received from the welfare department.
At eighteen, I became a rebellious teenager with hair down to my shoulders. I got kicked out of the house and climbed on a Greyhound Bus to Houston with 25 cents in my pocket. After a few odd jobs, I became a professional waiter wearing a tuxedo and working in high end restaurants where I did tableside cooking. During my years as a waiter, I learned a great deal about the customer service experience but I always wanted to own my own business. I’ve always been an entrepreneur at heart, but as a waiter, I made just enough to pay the rent.
Then I got married to Denise who is an Italian American from New Jersey. When you marry into an Italian family, you don’t get wedding presents like dishes, toasters, and blenders. Instead, you get CASH! We received $3,000 in wedding money and there was a friend of the family at the wedding who was my age (23 at the time) tooling around in a little red Mercedes convertible. I said to myself, “I want to know what THAT guy does and I want to know if it’s LEGAL!”
It turned out that he owned a carpet cleaning business. So as soon as I got back to Houston, I spent all of our wedding money to start my first business working out of the trunk of my car. My wife was really thrilled about that, let me tell you!
Fast forward – After being in business for 13 years, I felt like a slave to it. Wherever I went, I took my appointment book and cell phone with me and whenever I traveled (something I love to do), most of my vacation was spent talking to customers and employees back home.
Two Secrets that Changed My Life Forever
It was at that point I began studying everything I could in finding ways to unchain myself from my business. In doing so, the knowledge I garnered from small business guru Michael Gerber, leadership master John Maxwell, and legendary sales trainer Zig Ziglar provided me with two big secrets that changed my life forever.
The first secret I learned was that you have to have systems in your business. “You must work on the business, not just in it”, says Michael Gerber, author of the E-Myth books. So I set out to build systems in my business. As a result of those systems, I have gone from working out of the trunk of my car to living the “American Dream” by transforming my business into a predictable, profitable, and turnkey operation. This also set the platform for me to begin helping other small business owners improve their own businesses.
The Greatest Business Lesson that I Have Ever Learned
Next month, I’ll share the second secret I learned. I call it “the greatest business lesson that I have ever learned” and I suspect it will be the greatest business lesson you will ever learn, too. Most business owners never learn it, but you can…You just have to wait until next month to find out what it is!
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Howard Partridge, President of Phenomenal Products, Inc., is the author of 7 Secrets of a Phenomenal L.I.F.E. and 5 Secrets of a Phenomenal Business. You can contact Howard by phone at 281-634-0404 or visit his website at www.HowardPartridge.com.
