Category Archives: Financial Freedom

What’s the definition of a business system?

It depends on if we’re talking about funny business, show business, or serious business. There are all types.

But let’s focus on serious business. And though I kid, it’s nothing against the mom and pop businesses out there, the stores people love to go to specifically because there are certain people there who run them, know everything there is to know, answer questions honestly and conduct business with integrity. The same goes for any small business owner who operates like that.

There is, however, no way around the truth that you’re not really a business owner if that business can’t run without you. Just because you start a company and you work for yourself doesn’t mean you own a business in the entity that we’re talking about here. At best you’re a business manager, and without systems in place that repeat themselves in a multiplying effect so the business runs without you, that business could very well feel like it owns you.

The business system definition is ‘A repeatable process that produces a profit.’ If it doesn’t produce a profit, it’s not really a valuable business system. So the idea is to systemize your business so that it can work without you. Most people do not own a business, they own a job! They’re self employed. But even if you employ yourself you’re still an employee, and like most employees you’re probably still freaking broke, or at least you’ll never create wealth.

Some of you are probably familiar with Robert Kiyosaki and the Four Quadrants. ‘E’ stands for Employee. You have a job working for someone else. The ‘S’ stands Self employed. You own a company but you are the one providing the primary service. You are the primary product. Without you the company doesn’t exist.

So the only two ways that you can create wealth are the ‘B’s and the ‘I’s, the Business owners and the Investors. Simple math. You can never get rich with a limit on your income.

If you have to be there for your value to be delivered, you will dramatically limit your income! The same problem occurs if you make your money by the hour or by salary. You’re being paid for your time. Time is limited!

I am not putting anybody down for being employed or self employed. What I would say is that it’s going to be very difficult for you to create wealth and you need to re-structure your thinking, time and energies in a way that can produce wealth.

That’s where systemizing comes into play. The business systems approach considers the company as a system of interrelated factors of strategy, management, workers, finance, processes, procedures, products, suppliers, customers, competitors—make no mistake, when it’s growing, it’s a frickin’ job!

But the better job you do of getting the right people in there and balancing those systems, the more vacation time you have coming with some pocket bills to boot!

Now it’s your turn! The stories of small business owners can be of great value to the Millionaire Mind community. The issues and challenges are so common it can be cathartic to share some of those insights from fresh experience. It’s your turn to share!

Ever been in a relationship that hit an unpleasant plateau, or been in a business partnership on the fritz?
You’re naturally envisioning a worst case scenario where planning an exit strategy could very well be the way out, way before it actually happens, if it happens.

However, creating and owning a business is one of those areas where not only is planning your exit strategy preferable, it’s essential if you want to get rich. Not necessarily because business ownership is horrible, but because the whole point of getting rich is to work because you want to, not because you have to, yes?

Running a business, like getting rich, is no walk in the park. It can be just as frustrating, nerve-wracking, time-consuming and energy draining as any other job. It doesn’t have to be that way, but a hopeful business owner needs to be prepared to deal with the challenges of leadership.

Why does this distinction make such a big difference? Not only because it focuses your intention to become rich instead of a hard-working business “owner,” but it also helps focus the very decisions you’ll make as you start and grow the business.

Some of these points will seem so obvious it’s excruciating, but remember the very contradiction of the term “common sense.” One clear example of how your true intentions of selling and eventually exiting the business will affect your strategy is determining the name of the company you’re going to use. If you’re going to sell your business, never name it after yourself. Duh, right? ‘Harv’s Pizza’ isn’t quite as attractive a name to sell as ‘Dominoes’, or something else that’s basic and captures essence, like ‘Peak Potentials,’ yes?

A generic name will usually work better than something that is personalized or central to area or region. Like all of your decisions, it all depends on how far you want to go. But you’re limiting yourself by naming your business within limited parameters to the world outside of those who know you or where you live.

Choose a name that describes your product or service simply, effectively or memorably. If possible something that makes your company appear to be large. Why do you want your company to appear to be large? Because big companies are worth more! Again … duh!

So if you’re to put all that time into anything, you might as well put it into your wealth building because more than likely, you’re spending that time working hard at something somewhere anyway. It becomes more evident that the point of creating a business is to sell it for a lot of money, but how exactly do we get there?

For the next few weeks we’ll take a look at the importance of team building and systems. After all, somebody’s going to have to run things while you’re doing what you want to do more often, right?

Until then, tell me this: Have you sold your business, or are you in the process of selling it? Any suggestions on the process, or flags along the way others can look out for? Your feedback is welcomed and critical for our continued growth and learning as a community!