I am lucky enough to get to work with business owners from all walks of life.
Those that are brave enough to step out and set up their own business; however, are often caught up by the same affliction. An affliction that can take them so far off track that many wish they could rewind back to the beginning and start again.
Hopefully, this (fictional) story about a corporate wage-slave turned newly minted entrepreneur, Mark, might help you resist this dangerous affliction.
Mark was stuck in the "rat-race" and longed to escape the drudgery and build a business that would free him up to spend more time with his family.
Mark decided to follow his passion and set up a retail business selling the stuff he loves in his own unique way. Following a few initial teething problems, the business took off and Mark was enjoying building his thriving new business.
His lifestyle went from "corporate-slavery" (aka 7am-7pm) where he would rarely see his family to having breakfast with his kids every morning; dropping them off at school and always finding time for school events like sports-days etc - this was almost never a prospect back in his "corporate days".
Life was good. Money was pouring in and Mark had more free time than he had ever experienced before.
But then something subconsciously started to niggle - a little voice that said
"you've built one successful business, so why don't you open another....then another? Before long, you'll have a chain of successful shops and you can sell-out for potentially £millions. Heck, you'll never have to work again..."
So Mark got his head down and opened another shop. Following some teething problems, it started to take off. Mark did notice, however, that this time the teething problems took a little longer to iron out than the first shop - as now he was spinning more plates with two shops. He also noticed that it was now becoming more of a push to sit down at breakfast with the kids because he had new staff to interview etc before the day commenced. He also noticed that he was missing the odd school event - but hey, business was good.
Roll forward a few more months and that little voice became more incessant:
_"Mark, look at you - you must have the Midas Touch... Two successful businesses in less than a year. You could 10x this over the next 5 years. C'mon, let's scale, scale, scale.....!!!"
So Mark invested more of his time and effort into the expanding chain of shops. They were popping up one-by-one following the brand identity and (from the outside) things looked great. In fact, they looked amazing! Mark's face was emblazoned across local papers - he was winning awards left-right-and-centre such as "Entrepreneur of the Year", "Retailer of the Year" etc. But these award ceremonies had to be attended - in the evenings. Mark was staying increasingly away from home in hotels. But hey, he could speak to his family on the phone and ...... business is building so all is good.
Or was it?
Cashflow was beginning to suffer. Employee numbers were skyrocketing and rent and rates costs for the outlets seemed to be relentless. Margins were being squeezed and Mark realised he was taking home less money than he was when he owned the single first retail outlet....
But that voice kept whispering in Mark's ear that he needed to:
"Scale the business. Build it into a chain and then exit for a serious capital sum. This is how fortunes are made..."
And so he plodded on. More stressed than ever. More unfit than ever. And, more unhappy than ever. And he started to wonder to himself:
Whose dream am I chasing?
He started to realise that he was following the "corporate" voice that had been instilled in him in his previous corporate years. A conditioning that is instilled by TV entrepreneur personalities and the expectations of society that "you go big or go home".
If only Mark had understood why he had left the corporate world - it was about more than money and prestige. If he had dug deep he would have realised that it was about finding freedom and time. Quality time with his family. Time that he could never buy back.
For some, scaling up a large business to sell is hardwired into them. It is part of their DNA and they are driven to work huge hours and make huge personal sacrifices. But this doesn't mean that everyone has to chase this dream.
Too often in my work, I see entrepreneurs who are chasing someone else's dream; and if they could only stand back they would see that they are (already) living their dream. Learn to know who you are before you embark on a journey to scale up a BIG business. It is not for everyone. Realise that small can be beautiful.
Don't be a Mark.