Starting a business: I wish someone had taught me this 20 years ago
Wed 10:00am 21 Jul 2021For 17 years in business I have ignored a couple of fundamental problems in my attitude toward the way that I was operating.
Having read Gerber many years ago and heeding the warning, I still ploughed on and made a SMALL business.
What a mistake! Sure I had a great lifestyle and was in control, but frankly the product was not first rate, accounts could have been run better and projects could have been negotiated that would have made the business much more valuable today.
Basically, I had set out to start a SMALL business and so that's exactly what I got. Toiling away on the computer, designing some of the first (and most functional) websites for this new thing called the internet, the work easy pickings, fulfiling and quite lucrative. Even at one point after a completion of a busy period and the culmination of a couple of large projects, I recall checking my mortgage to see that it had been demolished! My bookkeeper reminding me that I received $28k in payments (in 2002 dollars).
While that was good, it could have been so much better!
If I had just woken up to the fact that I was pretty much running the business on my own. This meant that of the 100+ distinct tasks that a business typically requires to be a complete business model, I was doing the vast majority of them! No wonder I eventually burnt out and went sailing.
What's more, if I had delegated more tasks, I would have been able to step back and understand the business better, work more on subscription income, recruit the best person to do the job (rather than relying on me, me, me).
Watch, listen and learn - every business requires at least 50 tasks to operate, and most of them outside the actual production or doing whatever it does. As the business owner or general manager, your role is DELEGATE EVERYTHING, so you can just tinker with the model, get involved to sort things out when problems arise and ensure that the business is running profitably with the proceeds running to your pocket.
In this video, you are offered the punch in the face that I wish that someone had given me in 1999 before I embarked on making a really incredible, small, small business.
Meet our resident experts
Robert King
Accountant
Robert is a fully qualified Chartered Accountant, Registered Tax Agent & Xero Guru. He spends his time helping clients through all stages of the business cycle from setting up a business through to its eventual sale.
Laura Sillano
Mortgage Lending
Laura is a Residential Mortgage Broker with over 11 years experience. She is passionate about educating her clients about their options, and provides mortgage lending advice that is grounded by life experience.
Helen Baker
Financial Planning
Helen Baker, founder of On Your Own Two Feet, is an experienced financial adviser and firmly believes in the benefits of having a strong team of professionals to underpin your financial foundations.
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