a book that was highly recommended to me as a small business owner was 'The E-Myth revisited' . I'm only halfway through reading it but it has ignited a passion to push the limits on my entrepreneurial possibilities!!! What we have created at SalonDuo is already so advanced and we are following so many of the rules already that i can't help but think if we have achieved this much success already, after only 1 year, how much more we can do! how big we can make this?!
. The concept of the chapters I've read already are that within every person who steps out to being a business owner, there are 3 players. There is the entrepreneur, manager, and the technician. The technician decides they can be more profitable doing what they are doing for someone else, so they open their own business doing the same thing. That should begin the end of the technicians' part in this play. As the technician begins it's withdrawal , merging into a managerial position.
Something that really stood out to me is that you should spend more time working ON your business than IN it. i had a hard time with this because you converse with other entrepreneurs you hear that they practically lived in their business during it's first year. That they worked themselves to death to make it work. Maybe I'm crazy but when SalonDuo opened i maintained a balance between my home life and business. That balance has enabled me to be 100% while I'm behind the chair, and the ability to be present in my family activities. it was never necessary for me to live in my business, I can no doubt attribute that to having a business partner. I will say that being apart of a team definitely make life easier. Although.....building a 'partnership' with someone takes careful work to separate feelings, friendship, and business. If you can partner up and make that relation work you will go twice as far with half the work. (simple math eh)
Back to the book. the Idea is that when an individual, great at their trade, decides to open their own business has to have a system in place. The only way your business will flourish , and be a long lasting success, is to create jobs for other individuals. The formula doesn't work to continue to be the only one working IN and ON your business. You have to have an END game in mind. An idea of how you can create jobs and build a self-sustaining business that doesn't crash and burn if you are not present. If you cannot succeed in this than you are still a slave to a job, not a business owner.
that being said. How GREAT is the idea that you can create a business that you can focus on building and, growing and perfecting, not only worrying and consumed about making ends meet getting bills paid. How do you ensure the QUALITY stays up to the standard that you began with. How can anyone replace you? how can they do it as good as i can?
This is where the manager steps in. step 1: Create Jobs step 2: manage your employees. This step is very often overlooked. i admit I've never taken a course in management. What i have realized over the first year SalonDuo has been open is that it is CRUCIAL to the success of the business to learn the art of managing. If i could stress anything to an entrepreneur I'd say KNOW what you want when you begin to hire. As newbies we fumbled our way through multiple interviews practically begging them to WANT us. to Want to work for us. So we hired the first willing staff . Let me say it is a lot harder to reverse that than anyone wants to deal with. All your dreams hang in the balance of who is representing you and your business. Have a plan. know the atmosphere you are trying to create. be selective, be careful who you let into your bubble. It is worth the wait to find the right fit into your team.
Once you have found the compatible employee. Teach them everything you know, invest your every ounce of experience and wisdom.Train them to be you. Have a plan. Create a systematic way for them to learn to do things the way you do. Whether it's you'r shampoo experience, blow dry, haircut, color application or even just the way you communicate. Dont' leave it to chance that they will represent your business reputation like you want them to. This is the most crucial part. The biggest mistake, hiring employees then letting them drive your hope's and dreams, along with your business into a bad reputation. Start from the beginning. Know what you want to be known for, figure out your plan and invest in a team to help you achieve it successfully.
then retire at 40.
No comments:
Post a Comment