What does working ON your business mean anyway?

I always loved the message from Michael Gerber’s E-Myth that says:

“Once you recognize that the purpose of your life is not to serve your business, but that the primary purpose of your business is to serve your life, you can then go to work ON your business, rather than in it with a full understanding of why it is absolutely necessary for you to do so.”

He makes the point that your business is not your life.

Your business and your life are two separate things.

Your business has its own set of rules, its own purpose apart from yours.

Realizing this concept can support that separation and objective perspective where you fit, in relation to business.

Working ON your business includes building it and Includes determining how it will function and deliver on its purpose.

Asking and answering questions like:

How should it look? How should it operate? How does it attract customers? How does it serve customers? What skills does it need to perform these functions? What structure does it have? What processes does it need?

And asking these broader questions:

How can I systematize my business so I could replicate it?

How could it work without me?

How can I own my business but still be free of it?

Coming up with the answers to these questions is working ON your business.

And, this shifts our relationship to our businesses almost instantly.

It’s a powerful concept to think about how you could replicate it to build another exactly like it. It gets your brain thinking in a completely different way. Not that you will replicate it, but the exercise is, how would you, if you wanted to or need to?

The answers to these questions become a pathway to building foundations that will create a very pleasurable business to run.

How much time do you spend working on your business? If you could spend 25-35% of your time doing this, what could it do for you and your company?

I would love to hear your thoughts and ideas.

NOW is YOUR time.

Ariana