If “success at all costs” still sounds like a good idea then you haven’t really become successful.
Are you feeling out of balance? Wondering how to chase those big goals of yours without harming your success as a parent, spouse, friend, or merely as a person? It’s not at all that uncommon to feel pulled in a million directions. In fact, for many of the top 1% entrepreneurs we serve, finding balance is an ongoing challenge that causes a lot of pain, health issues, marital discord, and an empty feeling that the success they have isn’t all that fulfilling after all.
We are told about delegation. We are told about technology leverage. We are told about time management. Most damaging: We are told that growth alone will somehow solve our balance problems and that hitting bigger numbers will fix everything.
But those things aren’t solving the problem for successful people. So, where’s the snag?
Here’s the deal: You built a Business Model right? Gross Revenues come in on top, then you deduct Cost of Goods and Overhead and whatever is left over is what we call Profit. Works well with a business. There is unlimited opportunity with the top number and if you are shrewd about the way you run your organization, the number that’s left on the bottom – the Profit margin – can be healthy.
When it comes to your Time, Focus, and Energy however, there simply isn’t an unlimited amount. In fact, these items are quite finite but we work the model the same way – Time, Focus and Energy are poured into the top of the funnel of the business and whatever is left over is what the kids, spouse, friends, and individual themselves has to work with. And for too many entrepreneurs they discover those margins are shrinking with their success, not growing.
The more successful the business owner becomes the more the business demands and the less TIME, FOCUS, and ENERGY they have “left over” for anything else.
Here’s the solution and it’s radical, it’s uncommon, and it’s definitely not something you’ll hear in the circles where “success at all costs” still sounds like a good idea: Start backwards.
Start with a LIFE MODEL first and create a rules-based system for planning your time, defining your lifestyle, and considering the options to manage and continue to grow.
Here are a few of the unusual and refreshing ideas that some of our clients have embraced because of this thinking:
- Hiring a CEO and delegating all the “management” to someone else
- Taking tons of days off the calendar right in the beginning of the year
- Bringing in a junior and beginning to pass the baton
- Finding a partner and carving up the responsibilities
- Taking a pay cut. WHAT? Yes seriously.
- NOT growing aggressively but instead taking a slower approach
I can’t know what’s best for you and your lifestyle. It’s totally your choice and your opportunity to decide. But if what you’re doing isn’t getting you (or the people you care about) what you need, consider questioning the strategy altogether – not just your tactics. Stop working the problem with the business getting fed first and instead, start with a vision for your life and work the business around it.