Day to Day

MOVE FROM WORKING IN YOUR BUSINESS TO WORKING ON YOUR BUSINESS

THE FOUR ROLES WITHIN ANY BUSINESS - INCLUDING YOURS!

Why did you start your business? Perhaps you were a doing a job within another business and you thought "I could do this job better than the guy who owns this company and make more money, own my schedule, and get ahead."

If you had a moment like this - a vision of your own business, you might go ahead with plans to make it a reality. The problem is if you focus all of your time on doing the job, you will ultimately be working IN your own business, but will never realize the true potential of owning a business. The trick is to move toward working ON your own small business, so that eventually, other people will work IN the business and you can realize the true benefits of owning a small business. You will move from having a job, to becoming a business owner.

Take a look at the primary roles that all successful businesses require.

ROLE	PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITY
Dreamer	Sees the business promise before it is built and can anticipate the needs of customers before they are verbalized. Asks a lot of questions about what could be done down the road. Dreams about "a promise" that will represent the business to the customers. Works on the business.
Manager	Makes sure the operation runs smoothly based on following systems, rules, and guidelines. Recruits, hires, and motivates a team to handle the day to day work of the business. Holds team members accountable for delivering on the promise. Works in and on the business.
Doer	Handles the day to day work of delivering on the promise - the "real" work of the business. Interacts directly with the customers. Works in the business.
Sales and PR	Shares the vision of the promise to the outside world. Finds prospects who can benefit from the promise and turns prospects into customers. Understands the customer's needs and represents the customer within the business. Works in and on the business.

As you review each of these roles, think about how comfortable you are spending time within each of them. Consider areas where you may not be comfortable and how you might go about handling these areas that don’t appeal to you or are not comfortable to you. Let's talk about the primary focus of each role - review what they spend most of their time thinking and acting on.

ROLE

PRIMARY FOCUS

Doer

Font line staff who does the work

Focus on the present. Take care of daily business activities in real time.

Customers need attention, they have problems and needs that must be responded to in real time. Failure to respond quickly can result in complaints which will cause more problems for the doer. Hard to focus on tomorrow when you're pre-occupied with today's hot burning issue.

Thinks from the perspective of their individual job and what is needed to get ahead and/or keep the position steady relative to everyone else.

The customer might be considered a nuisance.

Manager

Talk, Plan, Organize

Focus on the keeping order by following the systems already put in the place - somewhat living in the past.

Implement and monitor systems to track everything the employees of the business work on. Select and motivate staff to keep operation going smoothly. While they are sympathetic to the customer and the dreams of the planner, their focus is on delivering now and keeping everything steady. Innovation may take a back seat to the daily operation.

Thinks from the perspective of the systems that allow everything to operate smoothly and with accountability.

The customer might be considered the end beneficiary of a smooth operation.

Dreamer

Entrepreneur Visionary

Focus on meeting the customer’s needs before they even are well known to the customer - thinking about tomorrow's offerings.

The dreamer asks "what could be?" and "why not?" and "what if?". The focus is less on how to deliver, but what to deliver down the road.

Thinks from the perspective of the customer's future needs and how the business can profit by meeting these needs.

The customer might be considered the person who's needs are to be met with future offerings.

Sales & PR

Share the Promise with the World and Represent the Customer's Interests

Focus on meeting the customer's needs. Listens to the prospects and tries to convince prospect that the business can deliver on their needs today.

The salesman might promise something the business can't yet deliver.

Thinks from the perspective of the customer today - feels their pain.

The customer might be thought about as a friend who needs to be taken care of now.

Initially, you may spend only 10% on the visionary role and 90% on day to day activities, but failing to devote enough time to all roles will keep your business one in which you are working in it as an employee and eventually the business may die due to changes in the environment or your lack of ability to work for some unknown reason. You will never reach the stage where your business works for you and you spend time working on the business.

Your goal is to leave more of the day to day activities to employees, while you manage the systems that the employees will execute, and eventually hire managers so you can spend even more time fine tuning and steering your business to meet future challenges.

Fail to properly execute on any of these critical areas, and your business will likely fail. Focus too much on a single area, and your business will likely fail.

CONFLICT WITHIN THE ROLES:

Even if you are handling all these roles, there is a natural conflict that occurs between each of the primary roles within any small business. Look at how each role views the other three roles.

	Doer	Manager	Dreamer	Sales
Doer:		Leave me alone Keep tabs on my work Makes my works less creative	Stop coming up with new flakey stuff for me to test while I’m trying to do today’s work	You’re selling too much or too little (we’re either bored or overworked)
Manager:	They don’t work fast enough		Your ideas won’t work well with what we do today in the field	Stop promising things my team can’t deliver
Dreamer:	They don’t see the bigger picture unless I spell it out for them	Can’t you get your team to deliver on what I am dreaming – stop defending your status quo world. Make my ideas reality.		Why can’t you sell my great ideas in the marketplace?
Sales:	They are not delivering on what I sell and I am loosing new customers	Can’t you get your team to deliver on what I am selling – stop defending your status quo world	The customers don’t want what you’re dreaming – solve their problems, not some flakey new product idea

Like most progress in this world, the tension between various competing roles creates a better solution than any one person could have possibly delivered on their own. The trick is to turn the natural tension of competing interests into a positive experience that generates creativity and a better world for all concerned - your employees, yourself, your vendors, and your customers.

Take the self assessment quiz (Learn how much you are working IN vs ON your business)

Now that you see the value of a business that works for you, let's explore the promise of your business

You are seeing the potential bridge that can be built for your customers. You want a business that works for you. You know there are multiple roles that need your attention. Can we help you understand and better execute within these important roles?

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