How You Accidentally Built a Job Instead of a Company
What if the behaviors that got your business off the ground... are the same ones keeping it from working without you?
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I was talking to this founder recently. Very smart guy, running a solid business, well above average for someone just a few years in.
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He's been making real strides in expanding his business and building his team. There's a lot to be proud of.
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I invited him to meet a peer group of other founders. A space that can help him grow.
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He was excited about the opportunity, but when I told him when the next meeting was, he wasn't available.
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So we looked at the next meeting after that.
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He couldn't make that either.
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So I started asking questions to (politely) see what kind of priorities he had scheduled that were more important than investing in himself.
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Turns out he wasn't making time to invest in himself.
He was consumed with client sessions, sales appointments, and random fires.
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Not that those things don't matter. They do.
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But when they all still depend on him to get done?
When he can't work ON the business because he's stuck working IN it?
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Is that a business - or is it actually a job?
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Most founders don't realize they've built themselves a job until they try to step away and - oh yeah, can't do that... gotta tend to the ______.
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Sometimes they don't even realize it's happening.
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He didn't realize he was still so pinned in by the day to day he didn't have control of his schedule.
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He's the owner and couldn't (or wouldn't let himself) re-prioritize tasks to make room for his own growth.
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It stings to think about it.
But I've done it.
You may have too.
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The way you view your role shapes whether the business can function without your constant involvement.
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And it's so easy to get trapped in producer mode.
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In the beginning, you were in survival mode.
You did everything because there was no one else.
And it worked. The market rewarded you.
Your team looked to you for every answer.
You felt useful. Effective. Needed.
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That's the trap right there.
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What got you here trained you to believe that's how the business moves.
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So when it's time to move the needle, you go back to what you know.
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But if everything routes back through you, your business is fragile. It doesn't matter how profitable it is.
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You have to find other ways to move the needle to ever get past this stage.
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Your real leverage comes from clarity, ownership, and direction.
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Being in the dirt is just a comfortable distraction.
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You can't stay in survival mode once you've gotten traction.
That's a habit that needs to be broken.
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Learning to lead this way feels slow at first.
It can feel like you're "not working".
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You're still working. You've just got to find a different way to work.
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It's the only way to stop being the bottleneck.
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Is your business still relying on your personal effort to hold something together? Where? I want to know about it.
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If you feel like you're buried in the day-to-day and want to start building a business that actually works for you ππ» reply to this email or book a time with me, and let's figure out how to get your hands out of the dirt.
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