By Howard Partridge
The idea behind building systems is for you to have more time. If you are “reinventing the wheel” every day because there is no system in place for your team to follow, you end up doing everything yourself. Ultimately, you want to streamline your business so you can have more time to pursue your life goals.
As I write this section, I have been traveling for almost three weeks. It’s the 4th of July and my wife and I are at our little beach condo in Florida. My staff knows what to do. They don’t need me. We were in Australia for almost two weeks and I didn’t have a phone with me. My wife asked me about ten days into the trip, “Have you talked to your office?” I said, “Uh, no.” “Don’t you need to check in with them?” she pressed. “Uh, no, they know what to do. Remember I have a turnkey business.” “Oh that’s right,” she said.
One of my coaching clients built his business from almost nothing to over $2 million per year. He takes fourteen vacation weeks each year and travels all around the world. It can be done. Now please understand that you don’t want to be irresponsible. You still have a responsibility as the owner of your company. You must make sure that your managers are leading properly and that things are being implemented properly.
I liken it to investment property that is managed by someone else. You own the property (and therefore have responsibility) but you don’t have to do the day-to-day management.
Another caution is not to exit too soon. I have another client whose business was profitable but when he traveled a great deal, things began to fall into disrepair because he didn’t have the right team.
Finally, would you like to sell your business for a lot of money one of these days? What if one day you could sell your business and retire on the proceeds? How would that be? I have found that there are two responses to this question. The first one is, “No! I love what I do!” The fact is, many of us feel that the work we do in our business is a ministry—it’s our expression—or perhaps we love the technical work we do (or some other part of the work “in” the business).
If that is your response, you still need systems in your business! Here’s why: What if you had to sell your business? A friend of mine has a hereditary kidney condition that will one day take his life. It took his brother’s life. As far as he knows, it is inevitable.
The problem is that his current business depends on him! He is a genius at what he does but it isn’t a turnkey system. So, he has been feverishly building another company that will help him reach his most important life goal: To leave his family with the finances they need to live comfortably.
You may not want to sell your business right now but sooner or later, you will “leave the building”. We all do one day! Whoever takes over that business will need a system. And if you have a system, you will be able to sell it if you need to for some reason.
The other response I get when I ask if someone would ever want to sell their business for a lot of money is a resounding “YES!” Well, here’s the bad news; first, your business isn’t worth much if it depends on you. Second, an investor (someone who has the kind of money you probably want for your business) doesn’t want your 24-hour-7-day-a-week JOB! They want a set of keys.
They want a set of keys that they can take and turn the crank on the predictable, profitable, turnkey money machine that you have created. They want to be able to flip the ignition switch and have it run as good for them as it does for you.
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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.
