A book that I consider to be one of the fundamentals of the principles of business in my life is the e-Myth. When I first read this book, it totally upset a lot of the mindsets that I had about business. The content however really reigned true to what I believed. In a small summary that does not do the book justice, the idea is that many people start a business because something they are passionate about begins to create an income. They then get caught up in the running of the business and not continuing to develop or work on that product or service that got them there in the first place.

For me it really helped to establish one of the principles of outsourcing that I have developed,that you staff your weaknesses. There are case studies in the book that makes suggestions such as employing managers to run the business while the owner continues to work on that skill that got them there.

 

There are three keys that I use in my life that I believe helped me to succeed in this area.

 

1. Clear the RAM

If you have ever found your computer to be running sluggish or having problems, and programs are crashing and files are not opening, it’s amazing what a reboot of your machine can do. Suddenly the computer can begin to run faster and work more efficiently.

A manager I once had closed down one of his businesses to focus on another, and suddenly he found a wealth of new ideas and new opportunities coming into his mind daily. He said to me he just had to ‘clear the RAM’. He had to reboot, and by doing so removed those things that were dragging his thinking down in his life. Suddenly his mind was open to new possibilities. This is the opportunity that outsourcing gave to me. I was no longer restricted to sitting at my desk all day completing projects for clients, but my brain was clearer to begin,to plan, dream and create new opportunities for business.

2. Work on it and not in it

This is a really a self-explanatory principle. Your business, your income stream, is something that needs to be worked on. It needs to be grown, developed, expanded and improved every single day. When we spend our time working in it, we don’t have the opportunities to do the things that build our business, we simply maintain it only.

3. Look after yourself

Jay-Z has a song in which one of the lines is “I’m not a businessman, I’m a business… man.” When I first heard this it took me a few moments to understand what he was saying. The meaning behind that expression is that he is not a businessman (entrepreneur), he IS the business. Without Jay-Z, his business would not exist. That is why this principle of looking after yourself is so important.

Robert Kiyosaki in “Rich dad, poor dad” says that it is important to pay yourself first, and as business people, and especially when we first start our business, the tendency can be simple draw a wage that is necessary and invest the rest back into the business or our staff. It is however important that we look after ourselves and pay ourselves first.

Ensure that you make the time to have relaxation and recreation as well as receiving some reward from your business. It does not need to be cash as there are other things that can reward us, but the important aspect to keep that passion alive and look after ourselves on a basic level so that the business can always continue.