Contractors – work on your business, not just in it
When we first start out as performers, we tend to be that. We have to get the jobs, get them done, and do all the paperwork related to the business. This is what is known as working in business.
There are very few contractors who have grown their business to the point where they no longer have to work in the business at all. It is possible to get your business to the point where it is self-sustaining and all the owner has to do is work on the business. However, this is not yet the reality for me, and I assume that it is not yet the reality for you either.
The thing about getting a business to the point where it grows on its own is that it requires employees. As for me, I have several guys working for me and sometimes it can be a hassle. If you don’t intend to build a business to the point where it’s self-sufficient, but prefer to work with just 1 or 2 assistants (or maybe you’re really de-stressing your life and working alone), then this article may still be for you. You see, if we want to improve our income, it will require us to work on our business.
So what does it mean to work on our business instead of just in it? When we work in our business, we do whatever it takes to run the business on a day-to-day basis. When we work on our business, we work to improve our systems and our marketing.
We do things that we only have to do once and then it pays off in extra income or less time spent on regular business. There are many things that we can work on to improve our business, even if we are working from one person.
One of the ways we can work on our business is to outsource. This can be outsourced work, but it doesn’t have to be. I would suggest outsourcing what you are least skilled at and what you don’t like to do. This can be outsourcing documents and record keeping. We can outsource website development. We can even assign the answer to our phone.
Outsourcing less desirable jobs can be a great way to free up time to spend more time with our families or spend more time making money doing the things we’re good at. One caveat I would put here is that we have to be very careful who we outsource to. There are many incompetent people who will tell us that they can do certain things for us. Check them carefully and don’t be afraid to switch providers quickly if necessary.
Another way we can work on our business is to implement systems. Systems can help us by saving us time, energy and money. We can implement systems for almost any part of our business. The most valuable systems are recorded in a manual.
You may not have gotten to the point where you’ve written a manual for your business yet, but you can still implement systems. For example, you might have a specific time of the week when you make predictions. Or you may have evaluation software. You may have a spreadsheet that you fill out when you go to the workplace. These are all examples of systems. The more systems you can successfully implement in your business, the greater your chances of success in improving your income and freeing up your time.
#Contractors #work #business