Five Ways to Cut the Chains

Owning your own business is part of the American dream. The idea that you can be your own boss and make your own rules is a bigger draw than becoming rich. Many people don’t want to become the next Bill Gates or Sam Walton, they just want to ditch their boss and make a reasonable salary.

What happens to many, however, is that they simply trade one boss for 50 bosses. Instead of setting their own hours, they work all the time. Instead of making their own rules, their family goes into crisis mode as work and family life are hopelessly entangled. They may be making a reasonable or even a good salary, but it never feels worth it because they are sacrificing everything.

If you are so chained to your work that getting one day a week off is impossible, how in the world can you deal with needing time off? Wouldn’t it be great if you worked somewhat normal hours, had scheduled vacations, and work and family life were separate? Not that all these issues can be fixed at once, but here are five ways to get your business looking more like something you own, instead of something that owns you.

Outsource, don’t hire. What is eating away most of your time? Is it technical support, finances, phone calls/emails, scheduling, etc? None of these things is your core business. If you hire someone, you will have the headache of managing an employee and your business will become more complicated. Instead, find a company (local, national, or even in another country) that specializes in completing that task that is hogging all your time. Chances are, they will be able to do it more efficiently than you or an employee, and for less money.
Use project management software. Take advantage of the benefits technology offers and use software to keep track of your projects. This will allow for much more efficient scheduling of multiple projects, and give you better estimates on completion times. You can use project management software for customer projects as well as things you want to accomplish internally. If you don’t own a copy of Microsoft Project, one online option is Zoho Projects. They give one free project at a time, and charge minimally for additional projects. Take the time to read about it and learn how to use it properly. It takes a while to start seeing the benefits for your extra initial effort, but over time you will notice things going a lot more smoothly.
Schedule vacations well in advance. I would even go so far as to put a deposit you won’t get back on something like a Disney cruise. The potential loss of money will be a nice motivator to get all your ducks in a row. If you can take a vacation, you will also be able to take time off if a family crisis comes along.
Move the office out of your house. The house may be cheaper, but it is not conducive to separating family and work life. You can move into an office co-op where space is shared and rent is cheap. Many times having a physical commercial location will bring in more business from the greater visibility and the appearance of permanence. If you think you really can’t afford an office, you can start working out of a Panera for the price of a cup of coffee!
Track your time. Maybe the single most important item on the list, keeping track of time, is the only way to get a reality check. Every time you are working on, or more accurately for, your business, clock in. When you are done, clock out. Be sure you are keeping track of whether the work is for a customer, what job it is, or if it is company overhead and administrative stuff. This will allow you to see what is eating up your time, as well as gauge the real profitability of your jobs if you were to get paid for every hour you work. There are many good timekeeping software programs, and some of them can export the information right into QuickBooks (including QuickBooks itself). For starters, just use Microsoft Office Excel. Having your time information will be helpful in completing the other four items on this list, as well as help you make informed decisions about the path you and your company want to take.

Much of the problem usually lies in the fact that many of us are, as Michael Gerber puts it, technicians. We end up doing everything ourselves and we work for our business instead of on it. Time to promote yourself to manager!

If you neglect these suggestions, you may not even know what to do when you arrive at whatever it is you’re chasing. The video below is a nice reminder.