Can your business do without you? If not, why not? If you’re a business of one, I can understand that, perhaps, but if there are several of you together in a business, why would you be irreplaceable?
Sports teams would be in deep trouble if they didn’t have more than one person ready to play a given position. One injured player and their season is pretty much over. That’s no way to run a team. Why should your business be any different?
What if you get hit by a bus?
Trust me, it’s no great testament to your greatness if you get hit by a bus and your business folds. It’s more a testament to your lack of foresight. And what if you survive that bus wreck and need the income your business provides to pay your bills? That’s definitely not the time you want your company to fall apart.
I recently read that Richard Branson owns 360 companies. But he doesn’t run all of them. He’s got good people to do that for him, allowing him to focus on the ones that are struggling the most. That is the way to run a business.
So at the very least, make sure you’ve got someone else who is familiar enough with what you do, at least one a short-term basis, to step in and keep things going for you for awhile. Create some documentation for someone to follow if they have to step in during an emergency. At the very least it’ll allow you to take a vacation now and then. At most it could save your business.
<i>Disagree? What reasons can you think of why you wouldn’t want to turn more of your business over to others–or at least train others to be able to step in for awhile? Leave a comment below and explain your thinking.</i>