InsightsScale
The Role You're Really Paid to Play
Moving from operator to owner takes a new set of skills and regular time to work on the business.
One of the hardest transitions any business owner will ever make is “getting off the tools.” The transition from “operator” to “business owner.”
Nobody trains us for it and there’s a whole new skill set to learn. And those skills are not the same as what got you here. For many it feels easier to stay on the tools. So it’s easier to stay on the tools, stay hands on, stay doing the work you already know how to do.
Some people do that well. But they know they’re not built for the management side, and they hire someone who is. Most people try to keep one foot in each camp, operator and owner, and that very rarely works.
I see it often. A business owner’s number one problem isn’t their product or their market. It’s that they haven’t made the transition from operator to owner. They don’t know how to do it. And it feels like a daunting mountain to climb.
Nobody teaches you “how” to be a business owner in an apprenticeship. I did an advanced MBA, and even that didn’t teach me how to run my business day to day.
If you’re stuck on the tools, here’s where to start.
Block out one day a week to learn, study and implement being the business owner. In the short term, that costs you operational time, time that’s making you money right now. In the long term, it’s how you get off the hamster wheel. It’s how you build a business that is profitable, scalable, saleable.
PS one of my youngest clients, in their first year of business, committed every Friday to working “on” their business. I’ll let you guess how they’re going.
