Independence Day for a Business Owner

Do you own your business or does your business own you?

In the United States each year we commemorate what we call Independence Day on the anniversary of July 4, 1776. On that day, the Second Continental Congress ratified the document that declared that the 13 American colonies were no longer subject to the tyrannical rule of Britain’s King George III and were now free and independent states. 

Actual independence wasn’t achieved for another 7 years as the newly formed country fought a revolutionary war against British forces, but in the middle of 1776, the representatives of those 13 colonies were declaring that they had established the ability cut the strings with the motherland and enjoy the benefits of freedom. 

Business owners should similarly seek to declare their independence from their businesses. While we love the businesses we have started, nurtured, and grown over the years, many of us need to recognize that we have become enslaved to these beautiful beasts of our own creation. Our lives are constrained by the demands of the business. Most of us are reliant on the success of our business for our daily living. Because we haven’t established our independence , when we turn our attention away from the business, business performance suffers, and we suffer with it.

You may be years away from fully cutting the ties with your business — exiting through sale or transfer — but that shouldn’t delay declaring and achieving functional independence from your business. The happiest business owners I know are the ones who can step away and know that the business will continue to operate and thrive while they take the time to enjoy life and plan for the future. Don’t you want to enjoy that kind of freedom?

So, how can you establish that kind of independence? I think it boils down to three things: humility, hiring, and handing off.

The first requirement for independence is humility. For entrepreneurs, their life and their identity are often tied up in their business. The business is them and they are the business. They know everything about the business. No one can know as much, or do (at least some of) the work of the business better than the owner. Or so they think. 

A business owner has to become humble enough to accept that others can credibly take over the parts of the business that today are totally dependent on the owner. On day one, an employee likely won’t be able to do the job as well as the owner, but you have to give them an opportunity to grow into the role; to become better at it. You do need to make sure that everything is being done well enough, but it doesn’t have to be perfect. Remember that when you started the business, you weren’t as good at all your jobs as you are today. You learned and improved and you need to give others time to do the same.

Which leads to the second requirement: hiring. You have to find good people who can take over all the jobs you have within the business. They have to have the right skills and experience to do the job, but more importantly they have to have the right attitude. They need to be aligned with the company culture that you have established, they need to reflect the company’s values, and they need to care about helping you grow your business. 

For most of the company roles that you’ve held onto as owner, you don’t want to hire someone merely working for a paycheck, but someone who is passionate about the work, who values what your company provides to customers, and wants to grow with the company. They also need to have the right personality. They need to be teachable and a good team player.

Finally, you need to start handing off your work to others. You probably still want to be working in the business most of the time, so you will work alongside the great people you’ve hired, training and mentoring them. They need to be ready to take over when you step away — whether that be for an afternoon, a week, a month, or forever (I’d suggest starting with an afternoon…). Give them a chance to excel. Help them gain confidence in themselves and let yourself begin to trust them to do the work that you’ve always done.

Letting go is hard. The person you’ll probably need to push the hardest in achieving your independence is yourself. But once you achieve it, you’ll probably wonder why you waited so long.

Happy Independence Day!