Working on Your Business
Posted On: 2011-01-20
And there's another website ready to go live for a client. It's always a great feeling to build out quite an involved site and then watch it go live and see the traffic start to trickle in. It can be an especially good feeling when it's a site that you've built yourself.
Yes I know I have other people working for me who build websites for our clients and I know that they could have done just as good a job as I did on this particular site but it's something I love doing. I know Steve keeps telling me that I should take a step back from the hands-on side of the business but ... well ... building sites is fun.
Building your business can be a lot of fun too but it's hard to build a business and work in the business at the same time. Now that may sound a little strange ... especially if you're just starting out ... but that really is the way it is.
When you're just starting out most people have no one else around to do the work. If it's your business then you do the work ... all of the work ... from looking for content to submitting your sites to the places that will send you traffic. That's just the way things are both here and over in mainstream.
Even out in the real world small businesses always start by having the owner of the business working in the business and quite often the owner is the business ... without him there would be no business.
But before too long that's got to change if the business owner wants his business to grow ... and these days if you don't grow then you usually don't survive for long. Apart from the growth aspect there's also that first issue I just mentioned of the owner being the business. Without the owner being around the business just doesn't function and that is dangerous.
Anyone who works 12 to 14 hours a day, seven days a week, is going to burn out. Sure the business owner might love what he does and he might be exceptionally good at what he does but sooner or later he or she will burn out and that's a given.
Some experts suggest that the real reason that the vast majority of small businesses that fail do so because the owner burns out and loses interest and once the excitement has gone there's nothing to keep them going.
So how do you stay interested in your business?
It's quite simple really ... you move from working in your business to working on your business. Instead of you being the business you become the person who grows the business and to do that you need to start employing others to do all the grunt work.
I know that a lot of people came into this industry so that they could work by themselves and didn't have to worry about all the hassles of employing others but the reality is that adult online is no different to any other small business. The fundamentals remain the same ... it's only the product that we sell that changes.
So how do you find other people to work for you and what do you give them to do? Well finding good people can take some time but it can be done ... even here in adult. Start by identifying some dull and repetitive job that you have to do frequently and then advertise on webmaster boards for someone to do it for you.
Set a pay rate that's reasonable ... give the person you employ some guidance and then let them get on with the job. Review their work before it goes live and don't be afraid to reject work that's not up to your standard.
Once you have them working efficiently, make sure you don't waste that extra time you now have. Use that extra time to look at ways that you can expand your business and also look at what other regular tasks you do that could be outsourced to others.
Don't rush in and give all the work you do to others but take small steps and always spend some time checking to see that the work is being done properly. Each time you give more work out to someone else make sure that you invest that free time you now have back into the business by spending even more time on developing your business and expanding it into new areas.
Sure there will be problems along the way. You will find that some people that you employ work really well to begin with but then become less reliable and some just don't work out at all. When that happens don't be afraid to ditch them and look for someone better.
There will be times when the output of those who are working for you drops off due to circumstances beyond their control. Don't be afraid to jump back in and spend some time covering for them and working in your business ... but don't stay doing that for too long.
You will even get ripped off by some of the people who are working for you but take that as a cost of doing business ... give them the flick ... and move on.
As long as you stay focused on the idea that you're working on your business rather than working in your business you will continue to grow your business. It will be challenging ... exciting ... and even fun.
Lose your focus and go back to working in your business and there will be little growth ... few challenges ... and almost no fun at all. And to cap it all off you're business will die.