At the onset, entrepreneurs dream of the freedom that being their own boss will give them. They are looking to escape their 9 to 5 jobs, where their fate is determined by the companies they work for. Somewhere along the way, the entrepreneur may feel tied down to the business, unable to get away. A marginal business further exasperates the matter. This was not their dream, this is prison.
So what’s the matter? And more importantly, how can they fix the situation?
The goal of every entrepreneur should be to make their presence irrelevant at the company. A business needs to take on a life of its own. This single mindset shift is what’s needed by many entrepreneurs. They get trapped into doing the skilled or technical job themselves. If the entrepreneur’s background is software programming then they do the coding themselves. If their skill is woodworking then they spend most of their time creating the wooden pieces. No matter the skill needed to develop the product or deliver the service, they spend the majority of their time doing it.
They get stuck on the product or service, and neglect the business of the product. Yet, what most start-up investors know is that they product or service itself only accounts for about 10% of the success of a new company, it’s all the other aspects, the business of the product that account for most of the success. So start transitioning away from the skilled work and start building a business.
Let’s look at how successful CEOs spend their time. Most dedicate more than 40% of their time with customers. If entrepreneurs aren’t talking to customers, finding out what they want and need, then they are stuck on the start-up’s premise trying to implement features or build a widget.
Entrepreneurs need to build a business with as much intent as they do build a product or create a service. If the start-up is looking to be funded, these successful CEOs spend 80% or more of their time working on funding. Notice, a CEO seeking funding doesn’t have time to do anything other than funding and interact with customers. CEO does not stand for Chief Everything Officer. CEOs are leaders; they need to set the direction and tone of the new business.
A CEO can’t be a leader unless they have followers. For a start-up to give you the freedom you so desire, it is necessary to hire, manage and fire others. The first step is for entrepreneurs to think about what work really needs to be done. Does the work have an impact of revenue? Is the result of the work used somewhere else in the company? What worked can be eliminated, automated, or outsourced? It’s difficult to hire people for positions when you know little of what that position entails. However, the one position most entrepreneurs know well is the skilled or technical position, and is therefore, the easiest to hire well.
Entrepreneurs need to realize they will fail their way to success. They will make many mistakes and yes, those mistakes will be costly. It’s how you move forward that counts. This is why the experimental start-up phase is so important. It’s a way of organizing and prioritizing all those business experiments so the entrepreneur can get to the right product and the right business model as soon as possible, one that makes the new business flourish and thrive.
About the Author
Cynthia Kocialski is the founder of three start-ups and helps entrepreneurs transform their ideas into new businesses. Cynthia is the author of Startup from the Ground Up and Out of the Classroom Lessons in Success. Cynthia writes regularly at Start-up Entrepreneurs’ Blog. and provides in her video series information on Business Startup Success.
I have never been an entrepreneur but I definitely understand wanting to break free of the 9-5 shackles! I have worked both office jobs, teaching jobs, call center jobs, and work-from-home and as both a mom and a single parent, the work-from-home has been the best fit. I am able to work from home by writing with an online platform called Ultius, Inc. You obviously need to have a writing background to work with them but if you do, it is a really good opportunity. They pay average $10 per page, which means if I am having a good day I am making about $20+ per hour (that’s just me though!) and I write only on topics that interest me. It is a contract job so I write when I want and when I want to take a break, I just stop claiming projects. I highly recommend it for anyone with their degree and looking to make extra income from home. 🙂
Interesting content, finance for starting small business is very important, I find this share very crucial because I like run my enterprise soon and I’m sure it will obviously be complicated.
Right on. If you’re not doing what you love, you might as well have just stayed in business for someone else. Building a business around something you hate just because you think the money will be reliable is a recipe for complete misery. You probably won’t even make that much money in the end since it will be harder and harder to bring any enthusiasm into it.
Being a CEO of a company is a tough process, especially in the beginning when you don’t have many resources and you’re having to wear many hats until you have built things up enough to start outsourcing. Like the article says you’ll have many bumps and bruises along the way. But it’s most rewarding once you have your systems in place and the business is working for you instead of you working for it.
I think this is an excellent article because it outlines the basic goal behind creating a business. It is not to make another form of a job for yourself. On the contrary the purpose is to build a business system that other people run for you. Good Article!
There are entrepreneurs who get caught up with innovative ideas and products but end up failing to run the business to its full capacity. While innovation is important, it can get lost or misguided with bad leadership.
A very good article with some sound advice. I think many successful entrepreneurs look for multiple streams of income with minimal personal input. I personally set myself a goal of doing something everyday to move my business forward. I outsource all technical and mundane tasks and concentrate my efforts on my customers. This has worked well for me and I believe it always will. Good luck!
Definitely Cynthia! Running a business of your own is quite a tough job. You own all the responsibilities especially if you’re just starting up. We all know that some budding businesses failed because of some of the reasons but you can avoid them by having a will power, an attitude and good judgment when it comes to tough decision making and even if you fail, “it’s how you move forward that COUNTS.”
Thank you Cynthia for the post
I like your blog ,and i do agree that it is easy to get caught up in doing the things you are good at when running a biz , and not the things that truly need doing my you , sometime though it is hard to let go and delegate , even though you now as a biz owner it is the right thing to do lol, thanks for making this point as i think im guilty of this and you have reminded me to delegate more
Luke
excellent article for anyone wishing to break free from the 9-5 mentality. I love this website and it’s blog.
Thank you for helping people make their dreams come through.