Entrepreneur: Do you own a business or have a job?
Another way to ask that question of entrepreneurs is: are you working in the business or on the business? Let’s first define the difference so this isn’t just an exercise in semantics. Working in the business is about creating, delivering, and managing. It’s doing the day-to-day activities of the business. Working on the business, however, involves thinking, planning, and defining functions.
Let’s also distinguish management from leadership. Managing is working in the business, leadership is working on the business. If you’re an owner/entrepreneur building a business, I suggest you eliminate the ‘manager’ title. No one really wants to be managed. People want to be guided, led, supported, mentored. Managed? Not so much. That’s a topic for another article, so let’s leave it there and get back to the topic of this article.
Certainly, in the early stages, the owner or owners have to work in the business, creating the product or service, probably marketing and selling it. They may also be paying the bills, collecting revenue, and handling a few administrative duties. However, owners are also responsible for working on the business, i.e. setting the vision, values, and goals. They decide how big they want the business to be, how decisions are made, who has what authority, and their eventual exit plan.
Entrepreneurs who are sole practitioners with no employees, just themselves, have no need to distinguish the ‘in’ versus ‘on’. It’s not that they don’t do thinking, planning, or defining. Those functions simply become part of working in the business. Consultants, insurance agents, freelance writers, artists, designers, etc. own a business, but essentially they have a job. They just do what needs to be done. They may contract outside help for some in activities they’re not able (or don’t want) to do themselves, such as taxes, legal issues, accounting, or IT. Likewise, they may consult a professional, spouse, or close friend to discuss their plan and goals. Bottom line – it’s their job.
Entrepreneurs wanting to grow with partners and/or employees; wanting to build their business into something more than a place to work (a job), must eventually decide what their primary role will be. Again, they may stay involved (at least for a period) in doing the marketing. Perhaps they’re the technician behind the product or service and the technical staff relies on them for some day-to-day hands-on involvement, or at least, guidance.
Speaking of the ‘technician’ owner, this is the type of owner who struggles the most with their primary role as the company grows. He or she loves to do the work – build and maintain the product and/or deliver the service – is really good at it, and perhaps isn’t very good at working on the business. Because that person is an owner, they try to wear the owner/entrepreneur “hat,” making critical strategic plans and decisions, but just can’t let go of the technician role. There are many owners who fit this model. It’s a dilemma or predicament that can stagnate a company. In the case of one owner I know who tried to be the technician and the entrepreneur, it resulted in both areas receiving less than proper attention. That created delays in product development and employee concerns about the direction of the business.
My goal for the technician owner (or any entrepreneur struggling with in/on business functions) is to inspire him or her to embrace 5 intangible factors I wrote about in Beyond the Numbers: 5 Key Factors that Impact an Entrepreneur’s Success. These Factors are all about working on the business. They’re the tools entrepreneurs use to deliver the most effective thinking, planning, and defining. At some point, the entrepreneur must fully delegate – one role or the other. He can hire and/or train others to be technicians so he can focus on using the 5 Factors to help build his business. Or she can empower others – a GM, VP, or President – to work on the business for her. They would coordinate, implement, and manage the Factors, so she could continue building or refining the product or service.
The latter choice is tricky, but can be done. It doesn’t mean the owner-technician abdicates all business decisions. It does, however, include empowering a trusted colleague with strategic decision-making authority (another future article topic). For now entrepreneur’s, grasp the idea that you, or someone you value and trust completely, needs to be working on the business. That is, if this journey of yours is more than just a job!