Let’s have a little fun today!
You know, leaders of small service businesses always ask me how they can increase their productivity, develop top-notch employees, and make more money while working fewer hours.
But that advice is rather straightforward, and sharing it step by step can become, well, boring.
So instead, I present to you…
The top 10 ways for small business owners to work long hours, stay stressed, and run your business and team into the ground:
1. Avoid delegation at all costs. You can do it better than anyone else. Why mess around?
2. When things get tough financially, cut investing into the business (e.g. marketing, training, perks for your employees, etc.). No worries. New business will magically appear, everyone will be happy and productive, and you’ll save a few bucks!
3. Of all the things in your business that you hate doing, make sure you are the one to do them all. No pain, no gain. Am I right?
4. If you find yourself procrastinating, the best thing to do is keep disciplining yourself to get it done. Everyone knows that. (Even though that hasn’t worked too well.) And that is why you are on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, watching TV, even working out… instead of working – or working on other way less important things. Keep it up. You’ll eventually do that thing you’re avoiding (but probably not).
5. Things like physical activity, good sleep habits, eating well, taking breaks… yeah, maybe for new-aged “work/life balance” hippies. But you are a work machine! Let’s hear you roar!! And, no… 11pm is not quitting time… Get back to work. You can sleep on the weekends (maybe).
6. Creating formal goals and performance reviews for your employees takes way too long. Besides, it might just confuse them to know what’s ahead in their career path. Keep them guessing, I say.
7. Check your to-do list. Then ignore it. Check your email instead. Repeat often during your day.
8. Immediately stop what you’re doing and answer every question your employees bring to you. Don’t you let them figure things out for themselves, or they won’t appreciate your wealth of knowledge and your genius. We both know you have all the time in the world to handhold them.
9. Never praise or reward your team for a job done well. They might seem ungrateful, so it would be wasted time and effort.
10. If someone who works for you does something wrong… NEVER let them know. It will make you both feel awkward, confrontational, and just plain icky. No one wants that. Besides, you need them to like you, so don’t rock the boat.
This is compiled from real challenges that my small business owner clients have brought to our coaching sessions.
Although this top 10 list actually shows how NOT to handle these things, ironically, this is how many business owners and leaders do, in fact, manage their time and employees.
It’s no wonder that many people are working longer hours, getting burned out, and seeing their business or career path become stagnant or not growing at the pace they want.
Not where you want to end up? In that case…
Here are some bona fide strategies to fix these business growth pitfalls:
– Have established systems and timetables for workflow delegation, employee trainings and development, and formal goals and reviews
– Know what you want to work on in your business and what you want others to do
– Keep the communication lines open for honest feedback, mentoring, coaching and empowering employees
Support them with opportunities to solve their own problems and find their own solutions
Take these to heart and see how many of them you’re doing and how you can flip them around to cut your work hours and create a team of superstar employees.
If you’d like more ideas and strategies to cut your work hours but still multiply your time-management and business effectiveness, check out these free business growth resource guides.
Here’s to your success!
Jason
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