“Paul, how will you start to improve my business?” is a question I’m often asked when I first meet a prospective client.
I explain that “improve” is a very wide concept.
It all depends on what you (as the business owner) want to do with your business, and in particular the role that you want your business to play in your life.
Your Primary Aim
The best item I’ve read on this is Chapter 12 “Your Primary Aim” of The E Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber.
(This is one of the two books that I believe that all small business owners should read. The other is Jay Abraham’s “Getting Everything You Can Out Of All You’ve Got“.)
Quite simply you need to ask yourself and answer some fundamental questions.
This could be the first time you’ve really asked yourself:
- “What do I want from my life?”
- “What do I value most?”
- “What do I want to be remembered for?”
Michael Gerber takes you forward to your funeral and asks “What do you want your eulogy to say?”
Answering these questions is your chance to intentionally design the life you want to lead.
You see, until you know what you want from your life, you can’t design your business in that way that it will work for you rather than you working for your business.
Until you come up with your answers, the insatiable demands of your business on your time and energy are likely to overwhelm your personal and family life.
Isn’t this interesting?
You can start seeing the difference between great people and ordinary people:
- Great people create their lives actively – they live life to the full
- Ordinary people have their lives created for them – passively waiting for things to happen and then reacting.
But if you work on your Primary Aim you can change that because it will mean that you will have:
- a clear purpose of the life you want
- a surprising amount of energy
- renewed enthusiasm.
In this chapter of the E Myth, Michael Gerber shows that lives can change by discovering a purpose.
He tells you his own story. How he drifted from job to job until he suddenly found his calling and turned his life around.
This is your chance to put the YOU back in your business.
What is your Primary Aim?
I urge you to take the time to write down to think about what you want to achieve in your life. You can always change it in the future but please find clarity on what will make you happy and feel successful.
Fixing Your Business – Your Strategic Objective
Your primary aim feeds into what you need your business to do for you.
Just as employees have a contract that makes it clear:
- These are the responsibilities:
- These are the rewards
You need the same kind of statement.
What is your deal with your business?
The E Myth system calls this the Strategic Objective for your business.
For more information, click the link to Your Strategic Objective: Make Your Business Work For You.
Learn More About The E Myth
I recommend that every business owner reads The E Myth Revisited at least once for this idea about your primary aim and strategic objective. The writing style may not suit you but my advice is to persevere.
You can buy the The E Myth Revisited from Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com (affiliate links) or see my review of The E Myth Revisited.
The E Myth Revisited is included in my list of the best business books.
[bestbooks]
Getting To Know Me
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