How do you define success for your small business?
Is it when you become a global public company traded on Wall Street? Perhaps when you make it onto the Fortune 500 list – or maybe even the Fortune 100?
Maybe your goals are little closer to home – such as being recognized as an industry leader, or the largest employer in your community.
How about just keeping your doors open for more than 5 years? Will your business be a success then?
Well it just so happens that I am well qualified to provide a definitive answer for you on this question, are you ready? Ok, here it goes – it depends!
Wait! Before you toss the magazine down, let me explain! See it really depends on you, it depends on what you want out of your business, and it depends on what you want out of life. No one can define that for you, no business guru, and no business book – only you. So have you taken the time to do it?
Well no time like the present! The best way to arrive at the answer you seek is to simply ask the right question. In this case the right question is “Why did you start your own business?”
I’ve posed this question to many a small business owner around the country, and the top three answers are as follows (not necessarily in this order):
1. To attain financial freedom.
2. To have more discretionary time.
3. To do what I am passionate about and to do it, as Ol’ Blue Eyes said, “my way” – in other words, to promote my services and products in a way that also promotes my values.
Pretty much every other answer you might come up with falls under these three categories – and if you were to try to sum up the three in one word it would have to be – “Lifestyle”.
In essence, you could say that you define a successful business as one that supports your chosen lifestyle. So now let’s take a look at how you are doing. Show me your results and I will rank in order of importance to you the three answers above.
Is your business supporting you or are you supporting your business? House on the line and personal credit cards maxed out so you can keep funding your business? Then put “financial freedom” on the bottom of your list.
Are you enjoying that boat your business bought you, or are you working all the time with little to no time for you or your family? Are your days long, your weeks longer, and vacations non-existent? Well move “discretionary time” time on down the list too.
What about doing things your way? Does your business promote your values, or are your financiers, and maybe even your employees calling the shots?
Okay, wow, so remind me, why did I become a business owner again? Well, the reality is that while as a small business owner it may feel this way sometimes, you are likely enjoying one of these more than the others, and perhaps better said – at the expense of the others.
For example, securing your financial freedom might be so important to you that you are willing to postpone all that discretionary time until you’ve attained it. Or conversely, you rather enjoy your discretionary time now, and worry about retirement later. And for some business owners – well, it seems perfectly reasonable to commit all of their personal finances and time to the pursuit of their passion, especially if it means they don’t have to be held accountable by anyone!
It is extremely important you identify which camp you live in (again if you are not sure, just look at your results) so you can set up your business to deliver what you want. I am not advocating you sacrifice say financial freedom for discretionary time, because the truth is too much of that and you will end up with out a business and on permanent vacation, or horror of horrors – working the dreaded 9 to 5! I am saying; realize that even though money may not be the most important thing to you – it is vitally important if you want to continue doing business your way. So make sure you have someone on your team whose responsibility is the profitability of your business.
By the same token, isn’t the point of financial freedom to be free to do as you please? So start practicing now and unchain yourself from that desk! Empower your employees, delegate some of that control over, and go have dinner with your family. With accountability controls in place, I promise your business will still be standing when you get back!
In summary, you define a successful business as one that supports your chosen lifestyle, some aspects of said lifestyle will appeal to you more than others, be aware of which ones, and how it impacts the other areas. Now instead of sacrificing the other aspects of your lifestyle, organize your business to maximize your strengths and compensate for your weakness.
This way you can have your cake and eat it too – now that sounds like sweet success to me!
Mark A. Sandate is the Managing Director of MASSolutions, LLC – a small business advisory firm, and an accredited Executive Associate of the Institute for Independent Business (IIB). For more information and to inquire about a free, IIB sponsored, 4 hour consultation please email mas@mas-solutions.biz.
