One of the mindset shifts you must make as you go from being a solopreneur with the equivalent of a job to a business owner with an asset can be found in your relationship with TIME. Let me explain.
As a solopreneur with an employee mindset, you are probably thinking by the day, week, or month. “Here’s what clients want from me this week,” and “did I get enough sales to meet my financial obligations this month?”
These are fine, but they won’t get you to the next stage of business where you have a business asset you can leverage, grow, and sell or pass on to your family or a trusted team member.
The Shift You Need to Make
Start with Your Exit. The biggest shift is to know exactly what we’re building toward. It’s okay if you think it’s completely unbelievable that your business might be acquired down the road, or if your kids are too young to know if they want to take on the family business. That’s okay. But knowing what you might want to do helps you build value in the right way for that goal.
The three exits:
- Succession within the family
- Succession with a manager
- Acquisition / M&A
Build for Decades. How many decades do you have until your exit? I ask because how quickly we must build depends on your goals. Do you have over 20 years, or under 10? Build the milestones now going from 20, 10, 5, 3, and then 1 year. As the saying goes: people overestimate what they can do in a day but underestimate what they can accomplish in a year. Think in years.
Budget Annually. The third shift I want you to make is to think about your expenses, revenue, and investments in terms of years. Specifically, in terms of tax years. If your business runs from Jan-Dec, then you should think about and plan your revenue and expenses to maximize your tax savings and build value deliberately.
Plan Quarterly. Next, I want you to make project plans on a quarterly basis. Ask yourself: what are the 3 or so projects I want to complete this quarter, and what kind of help do I need to achieve it? Think: website redesign, new offer rollout, writing a book, webinars (1-3/quarter), etc.
Work Weekly. Finaly, I want you to plan your weeks so that you know what you have to accomplish week-by-week, rather than trying to keep all of your work in your head all the time. Try to have your weekly goals for you (and your team) set by, at latest, the Monday of each new week.
That’s it! If you can implement all of the following, you’ll be able to make smarter and more strategic decisions about your business.