“You missed your son’s winning goal today. He kept looking for you in the stands.”
Getting a text like this from my wife would be a punch to the gut.
As a parent, I know there are only so many games you get to sit in the stands and watch. There are only so many Thanksgivings when everyone can be around the same table. Only so many school programs, birthdays and ordinary afternoons when the kids are still young enough to be excited that you showed up.
The older I get, the more I realize how quickly those moments go by.
I also understand how easy it is for a business owner to miss them. I’ve talked to business owners who have received very similar texts from their spouses.
Something always needs your attention. A customer calls. An employee has a question. A problem comes up that nobody else seems prepared to handle. You tell yourself you’ll take care of one more thing before you leave, and one thing turns into three.
I’ve worked with business owners for a long time, and one interesting thing I’ve seen is that many started their companies because they wanted more freedom. They wanted to control their own schedules, provide for their families, and build something that would give them choices.
Then the business grows, and somewhere along the way, they find they have less freedom than they had before.
They may own the business, but the business owns their time.
I’ve seen owners who can’t take a vacation without checking their phone. I’ve seen people who can’t leave early because every important decision still comes through them. They have good employees and successful companies, but when they’re gone too long, things start backing up.
If that sounds familiar, I don’t think the answer is to work harder or wait for things to slow down.
You have to build the business differently.
Your people need to know what is expected of them. They need to know what decisions they’re responsible for making. There must be processes in place, so the same problems aren’t being solved from scratch over and over again. And there has to be accountability so you aren’t constantly checking behind everyone to make sure things got done.
That doesn’t happen overnight. But it also doesn’t happen accidentally.
With the holidays coming up, I think this is a good time to ask yourself a simple question:
Can I step away from my business and trust that it will keep moving without me?
Could you sit down for Thanksgiving dinner without checking your phone under the table? Could you go to your child’s game and be there for the whole thing without wondering what’s happening back at the office?
If the answer is no, don’t accept that as simply part of being a business owner.
Take a look at what’s keeping you tied to the business. Maybe there are decisions you haven’t let go of yet. Maybe there are things that only you know how to do. Maybe someone on your team needs to step up and hasn’t been given the opportunity. Or maybe you’ve simply gotten used to being the person everyone comes to for an answer.
Those are business problems we can work on.
I don’t believe you spend all these years building a successful company just so you can be the person who can never leave it.
There will always be another email to answer and another problem waiting tomorrow morning.
There won’t always be another winning goal.
Enjoy your family this Thanksgiving.
Is your business ready to run without you?
If stepping away from your business feels impossible, let’s find out why.
MasterThink’s Strategic Analysis helps uncover where the business is overly dependent on the owner and where stronger processes, leadership, and accountability can give you room to step back.
Today’s MasterThought
If your business only works when you’re working, you haven’t built freedom into the business yet.
Take an honest look at what happens when you aren’t there. Do decisions stop? Do problems wait for you? Does your team need your approval before they can move forward?
The goal isn’t to make yourself unnecessary.
It’s to make your constant presence unnecessary.
