It is the entrepreneur’s dream to take their family on a vacation while their business is operating without them and making money on its own. Imagine sitting on a beach and not having to worry about what is happening back home.
The reality is when your business is starting, it is tough to take a vacation. It takes a lot of planning and faith in your team to have someone else helm the ship.
Here are three common mistakes business owners make that prevent them from taking a paid vacation:
1. Running your business as a practice rather than a business
This is tricky when you run a service-based business. People like health professionals or consultants typically start by running a practice. A practice means you are not only running the business; you are business. People are purchasing you for the delivery of services, like a massage therapist or lawyer.
On the other hand, a business is structured so that when you go on vacation, the business is still operating normally and bringing in income. A business can expand on a larger scale. Being the owner of a physiotherapy clinic that employs several physiotherapists is considered a business. Or offering online courses allows for passive income for the business.
The ultimate goal is to create a business model that allows you to run a business instead of a practice.
2. Not taking time to build a team
Many business owners start as a solopreneur. This means doing everything yourself, from sales and marketing to administration and accounting. This is fine when you have little income coming in. One day you will realize that you are drowning in paperwork which prevents you from moving ahead with your business quickly.
You might have a great idea about maybe hiring a virtual assistant, but you don’t know how to get started or even what to give the person to do. You might be saying, “I’m too busy to train someone to do it!”.
Building a team does not happen organically on its own. You need to commit to it and then build a plan on how to take that next step. Some people are great at doing this on their own, and some may need the guidance of a business professional.
Of course, you can do it better and faster yourself. However, you are missing the point. As your business is growing and you want to grow faster, you will not be able to do everything yourself. You need to step back, take a hit on production and make a small investment to get a huge return once your new hire gets up to speed. This allows you to focus on actually growing the business.
3. Not creating systems
You can get away with doing things by flying by the seat of your pants and making decisions accordingly. To be a serious business that runs on its own, you need to create a set of systems based on your experience and your expectations of doing the job. This ensures your team members have a set of instructions to follow.
By having consistency in your systems, you can take time off knowing your clients are well taken care of.
If your goal is to build a strong business and you are unsure how to take that next step, contact us to get clarity, direction and results for your business.
