What’s best for owners isn’t always best for organisations.

As a business owner, your company can feel like an extension of yourself. It’s part of your identity and how you tell the world who you are. But no matter how much you love what you do, your business isn’t who you are – it’s what you do.

You’ve gone into business for all the right reasons. To carve your own niche and career path, work the way you want, provide for people, and create impact in the world.

Business, however, isn’t linear and definitely not for the faint of heart. Some people have an entrepreneurial spirit in their blood, pumping through their hearts, with a greater tolerance for risk. Others are better suited as employees. Neither is right or wrong, simply just preferences.

As businesses grow, they transcend the single owner and become an entity, with its own needs, desires, goals, and vision. This can be a point of tension for founders and owners. A turning point that requires adaptability and trust. It’s helpful to step back and look at business through the lens of seasons and chapters, all with their own opportunities and challenges.

Owning a business gives you the freedom to change what you don’t like, without going through long, arduous processes. You can make small pivots or big swings, whenever you need.

You can intentionally redesign the business, so it reflects where you’re at now. Actually, it’s healthy to do so, given the pace that entrepreneurs expand versus their employees.

If you’re overworking, constantly stressed, can’t take a day off fearing everything will go wrong or feel disconnected from your own business, it’s time for a redesign.

Your business should support your life and work for you, not the other way around.  

There is a different reality waiting for you, a life of more balance and satisfaction. Small changes will compound and, in time, elevate your business and personal life.

Know the season you’re in

There are slower, more stable seasons, followed by growth spurts. Where are you now as a business? How long do you expect to stay in this season?

Zoom out and look at your life in one or two-year increments. If you plan to hustle for six months, then stabilise for 18 months, does this change how you balance your business vs. personal life?

Challenge growth

Growth isn’t always better. In business culture, growth doesn’t get challenged enough. You don’t always need to aim for an upwards trajectory. It’s okay to match last year’s numbers and profit. With bigger teams and higher profit comes new challenges. One tactic is to question growth by running it through a filter of your internal goals and vison.

A shared vision (that supports yours)

Companies with a collective vision can weather the inevitable challenges that happen in business. When people belong to a cause bigger than business as usual, they become part owners and help the company reach its goals. It can’t be thrust onto them, but rather, built as a team.

As the business owner, it’s important for you to come into these vision-building sessions with clarity about what you want. If the company vision is to go national but you’re wanting to consolidate and serve with a smaller, more agile team, there’s a discord.

Spend time in self-reflection. Be honest about what you want your life to look like in the coming years.

Know what’s missing

With clarity about where you’re headed, consider what you need to get there. Do you require more talent, investments, updates to systems and processes or alternative skillsets to round out the team? Explore what you need and create a timeline for achieving it.

Strategic support

Businesses are evolving every day. Dedicate time every month to reflecting, reviewing planning, and forecasting. Change can happen quickly in business and it’s important to have a regular pulse-check, particularly with trusted external partners – who can offer fresh perspectives, insights, and revelations. Invest in a relationship with business advisors who know where you want to go and help get you there.

For owners, a business advisor is a corporate ‘therapist’, with an action plan. It’s the most overlooked and underrated business tactic we’ve seen, in our decades of building and selling successful companies.

Get started today and book your free 15-minute clarity call with us.

Book a free 15-minute clarity call