Are you working hard this holiday season – feeling the frustrated pull of your family asking you to peel a few days here or there so everyone can be together?
Or are you more like many of my clients, who have structured their business so that trusted and responsible people are able to run it – giving my clients the flexibility to enjoy time with the people they care about?
This week, I expected to have lunch with one of my clients. Then they postponed because they were going to be out of state visiting their grandchildren until after Christmas.
At first, I was disappointed. But then I realized the postponement of our lunch came as a result of my success. My help organized their company to give ownership an incredible holiday break.
(Don’t worry – they rent their own house near their kids’ house.)
Matthew’s Four Factors to Freedom
Restaurant owners approach me in search of a way to enjoy the freedom they have already earned.
We address the following four issues to make sure their companies are set up to allow them to leave:
- Senior Management Competency. Senior managers enrolled and employed in a company that doesn’t rely on an owner are stronger than those who receive constant direction. So we educate or change them.
- Information. You must have the right tech stack to stay in touch from afar. You need the same information your people use to maximize operations every day. One of my clients went to their vacation home for a month. No one heard from them. People in their company started to become nervous. Turned out the owner was simply watching all the numbers on their phone.
- Systemic Culture. If you want true flexibility in your life, you can’t “be the culture” (or anything else); the culture has to be ingrained and systematized. Another client told me, “I am the culture; I don’t need to spend money on building a culture system.” Then, two years later, they asked me what to do about the fact that the culture seemed diluted.
- Trust and Opportunity. Like the half-full or half-empty glass, it depends how you look at it. Where your people trust, they see an opportunity to step up and show their capabilities. That’s exciting. They do not become envious or resentful of your absence.
The beginning of the holiday season remains the perfect time to review whether you take advantage of the freedom and flexibility you have earned.
You’ve earned the chance to do that. Most people will never have that option.
So, over to you. How will you set up your company so you can have the freedom you have earned?
