Is Making Money Killing Your Business?

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While I wish I could say I came up with that, that line comes from one of a great book I’m reading. Making Money is Killing Your Business is written by Chuck Blakeman and so far, has a lot of great points about how to manage a successful business. The idea this book covers is that the obsession of creating a business to make money is actually harming your business. Blakeman has some great ideas that he shares in an impactful way.

He says that businesses are made to throw off three things: money, time, and significance. We understand how money plays into this. His insight on time is important to look at. Naturally businesses affect your time, but it’s how you choose to deal with this: some people devote all their time to the business, some create a clear split in their business vs. fun time. For the third thing, I personally felt that significance wasn’t the right way to describe it. For me, business should have an impact, whether it’s for the clients, team, etc.

Oftentimes, instead of taking control of these things, we let our business control us. We are too busy focusing on the money to take a step back and see what’s really important. When we learn to control our business and by extension, our time, we can confront the tyranny of the urgent. This means you’re able to stop only addressing what you perceive as urgent and get to the important matters in your business and life.

Blakeman also discusses how you, the owner of the business, should not be solely responsible for making the money. If you do this by choice, great, but many owners feel like they are forced into being the top producer. The goal is to build a business that makes you money when you aren’t there.

A common enemy for business owners is the business running your life. This can mean many things, such as being too involved in the business and not having any free time or doing the right amount of things, but you aren’t passionate about any of it. People often try to squeeze their life into their business when in reality, you should be fitting your business into your life.

Business owners are notorious for self-created complexities. We look at things for too long and come up with reasons why things aren’t working or can’t decide on a singular solution. Once we remove ourselves and look at it from a clear perspective, we can start to see what actually matters and what needs to be done. Part of being a successful business owner is being able to cut through the noise and avoid the trivial many. Figure out what is essential to you and go from there.