Leave Your Business and Make More
When I was an employee, I hated it when my boss was in the office. The boss always managed to muck things up and did more damage than good by running around being self-important and annoying. As soon as we could get him out of the office, systems started moving smoothly again. We got more done, and made more money.
Employees want to do a good job. And what the boss often needs to do is get out of the way and let them perform. Of course, when I became a business owner, I fell prey to the kind of thinking that trips up so many entrepreneurs: You have to work endless hours, you have to micromanage every aspect of the business, you have to make every decision. Ack!
I don’t know if my businesses would have survived if I hadn’t come up with what I call Go Theory. (”Go” as in “just go away”.) Go Theory is not about where you go or what you do while you go away from the office. Go Theory is all about what you don’t do:
• Don’t send your employees lots of little reminders by email.
• Don’t keep checking your smart phone.
• Don’t miss the spectacular view or the interesting presentation or the quality time with friends because you were stressing out about what might be going on back at the office.
Instead, enjoy your time away. Because you’ve got great people taking care of the business while you’re gone. If that last sentence just sent a chill up your spine (“But…no one can possibly take care of my business except me!”), read on.
The first element of Go theory, its absolute essence, is hiring great people to work in your business:
• Fire quick and hire slow. Invest the time and money required to make the best choices. I don’t rely on just myself to spot the right person — I make sure that at least two other people whose opinions I respect interview the candidates.
• Hire smart. I hire people who are smarter than me.
• Pick people with a track record for doing their tasks and accomplishing their goals. You don’t want to deal with excuses.
The second element of Go theory involves what you do with those great employees once you have them:
• Give people a great place to work, including real benefits.
• Trust them to handle problems and give them room to succeed or fail.
• Get in the habit of throwing issues back to employees — otherwise, you’ll be chained to your business 24/7.
• Make your business a vibrant and healthy system and you’ll find that employees work better when you’re gone.
The third element of Go theory is at once the easiest — and the hardest:
• Give employees clear directions or goals, and leave them alone to do their jobs. A quick check-in early in the project to make sure they are on track is OK, but then…go away!
The idea is for you to work on your business instead of in your business. This forces you and your staff to create good systems that can run without you. As the CEO, you want to be useless in the day-to-day business activities so you can be proactive and reactive to markets and opportunities. Keep in mind that what puts your business ahead of the competition is not logging lots of hours at the office — it’s creativity. Ask yourself: How can you be creative if you’re spending all your time making sales calls?
Go Theory provides a lot of rewards, including a “real life” for the CEO and a stronger, healthier bottom line for the company. I find that in my absence my business thrives. Projects move forward, problems get solved, and new ideas emerge. All this — just because I learned to get out of the way and work from a beachside cafe two hours a day.
April 4th, 2010 at 1:14 pm
Chris
I think the real problem is that as we end up leading our organization we get less hands on and more reactive. We need to show that we are in control and that we deserve the respect we get. And as our “key” team members take on more and more responsibilities, leaving us with less and less work, the urge to prove ourselves again in front of our team gets out of control.
But as you said, the Go Theory only works if you have a great team in place that is used to being in control and trusted. Without that layer, the go theory could very easily turn into a gone out of business theorem.
April 4th, 2010 at 4:23 pm
[...] Leave Your Business and Make More Published: April 2, 2010 Source: StartupNation Blog When I was an employee, I hated it when my boss was in the office. The boss always managed to muck things up and did more damage than good by running around being self-important and annoying. As soon as we coul… [...]
April 6th, 2010 at 1:40 am
An attribute that is difficult to cultivate yet with so much potential benefits.
I think it takes a really confident (yet humble) CEO to realize that having every single decision go through them is not beneficial for the company.
Jawwad makes a good point, but even with the boss involved with the everyday operations, the company can still miss opportunities in the industry.
Someone once said, “the key for business owners is to get outside of the building”.
May 6th, 2010 at 1:44 pm
Arch2Arch is Memphis spa & threading salon providing services related to massage, eyebrow threading, facial, bridal makeup, henna tattoo & waxing. Arch 2 Arch is located on 3750 Hacks Cross Rd , Memphis,Tn. Visit our Memphis salon.
May 24th, 2010 at 1:33 pm
I think you got a great state of mind.
Maybe if I had such a boss I would still be an employee…
but since I had a boss like you did I’m no longer emloyee…
June 9th, 2010 at 7:54 pm
Very vivid appearance, perfect plot, challenging game. Many of us put this game as a very important part of life. Surprise,when I browse the web ,I found these website Pretty good. such as xxxxxx, go and see it that rich variety of fashion at a reasonable price !
June 17th, 2010 at 12:04 pm
was walking by internet and found your blog. Reciprocate the visit http://sensuaisegatas.blogspot.com
September 22nd, 2010 at 5:11 pm
This is great. We are mostly think the way we used to… so it seems hard sometimes to change.. but if we don’t we will always live somebody else lives. We should take a challenge, get of the shape and do exactly what we think is good to us.
January 24th, 2011 at 7:39 am
Time spent reading your piece is valuable. Many of people should surely read this!
January 28th, 2011 at 6:34 am
Merci, J’ai trouvé cet article très intéressant, les article sont très bien rédigé ! Bonne continuation
March 16th, 2011 at 4:56 am
Different types of coverage fit the different needs you might have. To determine what type of coverage applies to you, consider your individual situation. Once you have all the information you’re looking for, you are ready to qet a quote.
August 10th, 2012 at 6:31 pm
Ladar Cleaning Service start up
http://www.indiegogo.com/ladarofmistartup
Ladar Cleaning Service is a woman owned and operated Commercial cleaning services. The purpose of this is to help bring in some capital to buy cleaning equipment