The Best Thing You Can Be Is Redundant

There is a question we stumbled across the other day and it has been dancing along our minds ever since: do you work for your business or does your business work for you?

It may seem like a pretty simple question but, when you give it the thought it deserves (by which we mean more than two minutes of undivided attention), you may find the answer to be pretty surprising. To put it into clearer terms, what would happen if you just left for a week or a month? Literally, just walked out and left it to run without any involvement from you.

The point we’re trying to get across is this: almost every entrepreneur starts a business so that they can live the lifestyle they have always wanted. But the reality is never quite the same. The reality, for most, is they end up working harder than they did when they were slaving away for the man.

In order to help you get the freedom and satisfaction you dreamed of so long ago, we have pulled together a list of things to get you on the right track.

1. No More Disillusioned Goals

This is a concept that people never focus on at the beginning. Their goal is to just get rich because they think that is the answer. But it isn’t. The answer is to stop focusing on money and start focusing on the goals that really inspire you, like working less, travelling more and enjoying your time away from the office. So, if you want to enjoy a business that works for you, know what that means; know what your real goals are. You’ll be amazed at what you uncover by doing this. You’ll be amazed at the systems you create to support your lifestyle.

2. Tech Has Advanced For Your Sake

What keeps the tech ball rolling is its ability to make people’s life easier, which is why you need to harness all the power it possesses. Invest in software that allows collaboration from anywhere in the world, whether it be Trello, Skype, screen sharing or whatever. Speak to fieldpoint.net about their finance and business management software. Get into the habit of using slack and Facebook Messenger, Basecamp and Jira, and basically move as far away from a centralised and traditional business as possible simply because you can – and because WordPress did it, which is all the social proof you need. With tech, you can be more productive at a fraction of the cost and risk.

3. Make Yourself Super-Redundant

You started your business and that is why yours remains so reliant on you in the day to day runnings. Clients have gotten used to speaking to you directly, line managers are in the habit of getting your say before signing off and employees need you to empower them. It’s only natural. But this needs to change and that means coming up with a system where you can become redundant, as forbes.com explains. Train your line managers to make tough decisions, empower your employees to take total control of their tasks and remove any micromanagement from your culture.