One of the hardest lessons I’ve had to learn in the 10 years I’ve been running my business, and perhaps the most critical one, has been that I shouldn’t be doing any work. That is, I for sure shouldn’t be doing any production work, and I should constantly be trying to figure out how to not do any of the…
Starting Over
When you start a new business for the first time, it’s a startup. When you start the same business for the fifth time, it’s starting over.
The vast majority of manuals, of any type, go unread. When’s the last time you read a product manual? When’s the last time you read a manual that your employer produced? If your employer hands you a binder with 200 pages in it spelling out the HR policy at your job, are you really going to take that home and…
10
Nov
The Org Chart
Creating an organizational chart can be fun, but is there a real purpose behind it or is it just “playing business”? I never saw much of a purpose to an org chart before, other than to make people higher up on it feel good, or to make yourself feel like you were organized. But now I see it as an…
Oh good heavens, a mission statement? Do people still use those things? Wasn’t that just one of those business fads created by Stephen R. Covey’s in the 80’s? Well, whatever, I don’t know. I just think it’s good to spell out what the purpose of the business is somewhere, just so people know. Just so I know, even if nobody…
10
Nov
The System
I recently read the E-Myth for the first time. Actually, I read The E-Myth Revisited, which is the updated version of The E-Myth, apparently. Although cheesy in some parts, and I suspect the book was written only partially to generate revenue in and of itself but primarily to generate customers for the author’s business coaching services, the book contains some…
09
Nov
Why Start Over?
Why am I starting over? Why would I want to risk give up working short hours from the comfort of home, having time to spend with my wife and daughter, do triathlons, write on this blog, and do many of the other things I enjoy?
In answering that question I have to be careful. I don’t entirely trust myself. After…
It’s been a while since I added a new category to this blog, but it’s time, because I’m entering a new phase in my life. I’ve already done the startup thing. In fact, I’ve done it more than once. But I now realize some of my “startup” attempts were really “startovers” and not “startups”. A startover is when you start…
