Freedom is widely regarded as the ability to make your own choices, to set your own course. As it happens, though, you cannot always do as you please and go where you want. Don’t we know that too well right now?
To feel like breaking out, I would sometimes do stuff that gave me a sense of freedom. As teenagers, on more than one occasion, we hiked from Morgans Bay to East London with no katunda and slept under the stars there where we ended up for the day. Today, I still enjoy the freedom associated with riding my bike, which I do as often as I can. And in my youth, I jumped out of an aeroplane to experience the exhilaration and freedom of parachuting. Adrenaline junkie of note.
Many would-be business owners believe that ditching the corporate rate race will give you freedom, will allow you more time to spend with your family and friends, on leisure activities or on your hobbies. The fact is that most entrepreneurs need a Bar-one a day for those 25 hours to work on their business. They are at the office long before anyone else, the last to leave, only to continue working into the night at home. They are often the last to get paid, the last to take a vacation and the only ones to put all their assets on the line as collateral for the business.
The effect of this is that entrepreneurs are loathed to let go of the reigns, knowing that it is their loss should anything go wrong. Most decision-making and controls remain with them, and they rarely trust others with key activities. They not only become the bottleneck in their business, but the freedom they were craving is also a distant dream.
As I worked my way up the corporate ladder, I soon learnt that I couldn’t do everything myself. My responsibilities increased and my time available to attend to every detail diminished. Not that I am a stickler for detail at the best of times. Fortunately, I had a colleague and a friend that worked with me, Mark “Bruce” Antonie, who could read my mind. He anticipated what needed to be done well in advance, and put in the hard yards to get us through SAP implementations, facing down Y2K and getting audited results signed off within a week of the end of every quarter.
The lessons that I learnt in the process is to put your trust in those that deserve it, leave good enough as is, and that there is more than one way of getting the job done.
So say the bosses
“Extending trust is the ultimate act of leadership, the defining skill that transforms a manager into a leader.” This quote is by Stephen M. R. Covey from the Speed of Trust, another eye-opening book that crossed my path. It takes courage to trust others. And like discipline, respect and love start with yourself before being in a position to extend it to others. Yet, with trust comes the opportunity for the entrepreneurs to delegate tasks and so free themselves up.
In the legendary E-myth revisited by Michael E Gerber, the point is made that the entrepreneur needs to work more on the business than in it. In order to achieve this, there needs to be present the entrepreneur with the vision and passion, the technician with the practical skill and the manager putting in place systems and processes.
The freedom that the entrepreneur wants comes at a price – the full responsibility for their business. So says Marnus Broodryk in the 90 Rules for Entrepreneurs. He warns that you will need to be prepared to sacrifice now to reap the rewards later. However, he also makes the point that you must look after yourself in body, mind and spirit. And like mentioned before, put people and processes in place to free you up.
The Sologix solution
We encourage our clients to surround themselves with people equipped to do the job, learn to delegate and stay out of the way. In short, identify the right positions, appoint the right people and make sure they know what is expected of them.
GrowthWheel has developed a great tool to assist in this regard. The culture of productivity encourages continuous improvement, learning from errors, knowledge and skill sharing and incentivising. This is one way of becoming a free entrepreneur.
Become part of our Sologix community in order to gain access to our high quality, versatile and proven resources that will help you to run your business better. Join an online course or contact us for personal business coaching by sending us an email here.
