#309: Running a business is like adulting
Entrepreuers are like teenagers or college freshmen, you start running the business when this one thing happens
Along with this blog and other writing projects, I like to journal every day to start my morning. Recently, I took up the #writeclub for my morning journaling prompt. Below is a link to the tweet Bridget Phetasy posts daily if you want to check it out. Each morning there is a new writing prompt.
This prompt was “When was the first time you felt like a grown-up (if ever)?”. For those who don’t journal, you take a prompt like this and write. Some experts say 5 minutes; others say 10 or 20, but it’s up to you. I used to try to handwrite to start, but now I type it because I like to go back and read it later on.
I thought about the adulting prompt for a moment and started writing. The adulting moment came when I would go to the mailbox in my first apartment. Of course, we all go to the mailbox; that itself didn’t make me an adult, heck there was nothing but junk mail and bills in there. However, when you know what to expect, that is when you become an adult.
Yes, knowing what bills were coming because you planned for those expenses. I recall a trip I made in my very early 20s; it came immediately after American Express was silly enough to send me a Gold Card. I flew from Detroit to San Francisco to see my sister and then to Savannah to visit my brother. There were rental cars, dinners out, and gifts for my nieces and nephews. A great time was had by all. Then the bill came.
Yes, being an adult requires planning and understanding the consequences of your actions. I was no longer just living day by day, only to figure it out later. Instead, I began planning for an event and the eventual consequences (payments). That was the moment I realized what an adult is.
Running a business is the adult moment.
As leaders know, planning is essential to your future. Decisions that you make have consequences. Moreover, those same decisions have expected positive and negative results. Depending on what phase of life your business is in, it requires different management styles. A few years ago, I wrote about three types of leaders; which one are you? Here is a quick summary of the three types:
Start-up (Phase 1)
Self-explanatory, the beginning, where everything is moving so fast, and you are trying to keep your head above water. Ideas are floated, executed, and discarded all on the same day.
System Developer (Phase 2)
Building a sustainable, highly efficient, practical company is this person’s marching order. So clean up the balance sheet, create an organization chart that makes sense, and put a person in charge of human resources.
Scale (Phase 3)
The company is operating at 95% efficiency and is stuck in neutral. This person sees more than others can see and can multiply growth, multiplying the leaders around him. This leader is a part start-up and part systems developer and can reproduce the successes exponentially.
Adulting begins as you move beyond phase one. Of course, some of you want to be kids forever; if so, stay in that start-up mentality, but hire a system developer to start planning. After that, move out of the way and create something new.
Previously, I worked as a Stage Three CEO, but the entrepreneur stuck around. In a few short years, we tripled the company's size, the gross margin increased by 20%, and we did so with the same number of employees. I was fired. Why? The entrepreneur wasn’t ready to grow up. After leaving the company, it took a little over a year to return to the level it was before it grew up.
Don’t get me wrong. We need phase one leaders that are risk-takers and innovators that have the energy and drive to bring their ideas to the market. We don’t want to grow up too early!
So, when did you realize you were an adult? Or have you yet?
At the Kole Performance Group, we can help you move to whatever phase you want. But when you do, you must realize that you either grow up or get out. It’s one of the most challenging decisions a CEO needs to make, but it will lead to better tomorrows.
Connect with us for a free 30-minute consultation to help you be the best phase you can be!