A case study of 2 small business owners: which one are you?

Most entrepreneurs go into small business with dreams of a better life for themselves and their families, but the reality can often be far from this. Below I examine two real small family businesses with turnovers less than $1 million. Which one are you more like?

Mr and Mrs Burnt-out

They are a husband and wife team. They offer a fantastic product and service. They work 14 hour days, 7 days a week. They can't remember the last time they took a holiday. You can see the tiredness in their eyes. They do everything themselves in the business. They do the front-end, the marketing, the administration and the delivery of the product and service. The business revolves around them. They also do all the book work. They struggle to invoice out on time. They don't follow up debtors. Because they are running around doing everything and anything, their service standards and core business product is not as good as it used to be. Some of their loyal customers are becoming disillusioned. They are surviving week by week. They are burnt out from working in their business all the time, there is tension between the couple and one of them is having health problems.

Mr and Mrs Balanced

Another husband and wife team. They also offer a fantastic product and service. They work hard, but only work on weekends when necessary. The wife works part-time in the business. They recently went away to the snow for a week-long holiday. They are also going away to Europe next month for business and a holiday. Their business runs smoothly when they go away. They have clear systems in place. They do not do all the work themselves. They have key employees and also contract out the work that they are not good at, and choose to focus on the areas within the business that they excel at. Although cash flow is still tight, they are growing and know exactly where the business is at. They have an appropriate debtor management system in place. The quality of the product and service has remained consistent and they are attracting new clients and retaining existing clients. They have a business plan and budget which they monitor and review. The owners are now focused on working more on their business rather than in the business.

Do either of these scenarios sound like yours?

I don't want you to be too down on yourself if your business is more like Mr and Mrs Burn-outs. You're certainly not alone. There are many businesses that operate like this. Owners may feel like they have to do everything for a variety of reasons: there's not enough money to employ someone, no-one else can do the work as good as them, they want to keep control of everything... the list could go on.

But when you're working 7 days a week, at what cost does this come to you and your family? Your health, your time and your wellbeing? Is this really what you wanted when you first went into business?

I know from experience that my bookkeeping and accounting services have been worth every cent to businesses like Mr and Mrs Balanced. I like to think I'm helping them not just in dollar terms, but with their emotional wellbeing too - providing them with piece of mind that someone competent is assisting with an integral part of their business.

Smart business owners realise that their business is much more productive when they focus on their areas of strength, and they get others involved to provide assistance in areas of weakness. This then in turn produces far greater growth and success for their business and enables them to live a fulfilling life outside of their business.