In This Episode
So what do you do? What do you say when someone asks you this question? Chances are you’ll talk about your business and what your business does first when responding to this question. But if someone is asking what it is that you do as the business owner in our business, what do you tell them?
Most business owners we meet will joke about doing anything and everything, especially those things that no one else wants to do. But as your business grows and matures, it’s likely that your role as the business owner should grow and mature as well. When we first meet a business owner we’ll often ask if they know their 3-word job description. We usually hear some version of “do it all” or “get it done” but the answer we’re searching for is something a little different and something that most small business owners aren’t doing enough of.
Our 3-word job description for a business owner is: Plan Direct Control.
- Plan: what’s the plan? This is a question you should become fond of asking your team. This could be the plan for the day, week, month, quarter, or year. How else are you supposed to get on the same page with your team if everyone doesn’t know what the plan is?
- Direct: so if you’ve got the plan in place, how do we know that it’s being executed? Someone has to direct all of the activity. Who is doing what to help ensure this plan is carried out?
- Control: how are the plans tracking? Are we on pace to make the plan, lagging behind, ahead of the plan? What kinds of controls do you have in place to track the status of all your plans? What regular meetings do you hold within your organization and what types of reports are you reviewing on a regular basis?
As you can appreciate, things can get a little hectic at times when running your business. We find it’s helpful to be able to quickly reset and review the Plan Direct Control model for your business. It all starts with the Plan because if there isn’t a Plan in place there won’t be anything to Direct or Control.
People, Companies and Resources We Mentioned in the Show
- Stretch Armstrong (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stretch_Armstrong)
- Drawn & Quartered (https://www.britannica.com/topic/drawing-and-quartering)
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