There has never been an entrepreneur who didn’t start with a ton of excitement and a dream of their new venture servicing the entire world. In the beginning there is always a ton of passion, and a lofty dream of being at the helm of a great company that finally pays you what your worth. Dream Co. pays all of its bills, gives bonuses to every employee, pays high dividends to anyone who sees the vision, and chooses to invest. One day you wake up to find that you have more bosses than you can count. This list can be long. Bosses can be your customers, your employees, your bills, your time or the lack of it, your suppliers, your family or the lack of one, all of these things will try to control your decisions at some time or another. When these things take over you will feel completely owned, and you will not feel like the owner you dreamed you’d be. If you ever find yourself here, you need to sit down.
I am not speaking of sitting down in chair. I mean lay down, quit, set everything down. Don’t touch anything. Don’t move a muscle. I am saying like an ass that won’t pull a wagon, just quit moving. Let it all go. Let the appointments come and go, let the calls come in, let the emails ding, let the door bell ring, stop it all. By all, I mean stop all the stuff that has been leading you around by the nose.
It’s inhumane to be drug by the nose, let alone the company you claim to own dragging you by the nose. How did you get here? You were supposed to be the leader of this whole Dream Co. thing. What happened?
Here it is. This whole thing got started with you trying to help everywhere you seen Dream Co. hurting. When you seen a problem arise, you stepped in and fixed it. You step in every time you see some pain. You step every time there is a problem and try to smooth it over. Putting out fires they call it. You can’t leave anything alone. You always jump in. You react to every whim of Dream Co. You react all day long. You just react to everything.
Now before you beat yourself up; there is nothing wrong with putting out fires or working on problems. It takes a servants heart to run a company. Business owners lead and serve people (customers, employees, and investors). There is a time and a place for jumping in and I am here to explain when and how.
You will be glad to know it easy. Here is the answer. You have to be intentional. You have to be calculated in every decision you make. Here is how it’s done:
Stop everything. The length of time you have to quit things is indefinite. You have to quit until you feel you’re in control. Recognize who the real owner is. Once you have shown out to yourself with a real good stall; you can proceed again.
Begin again. Do things only because you decide to do them. Never just react again; unless you’ve written a rule book saying how you should react.
Examples:
A. I will pay the light bill to keep the lights on, not because they called and said it’s late and there will be extra charges.
B. I will pay the light bill because I don’t want late charges, not because I am avoiding a collection call.
C.Turn it off, I will not pay the electric bill because there is no money and I cannot afford overdraft charges, not because my customer didn’t pay me on time.
It is really just a mind game. You gave up your ownership one day. One day you thought someone or something knew Dream Co. better than you; they may or may not, but they are not the owner. Don’t take me wrong. This is not a license to be a complete jerk. You cannot say “I am the owner. I know what I’m doing!!!” Caution, everyone (customers, employees, and investors) will be glad to leave you with it! You should be a listener, but before you make a decision to follow any help, advice, or criticism, make sure you’re intentional in your actions. When you are intentional you are in charge. If you’re just in charge, you might get owned.
Positive Imbalance 