Why Being The Hub Of Your Business Could Actually Hurt It

From our roots as an E-Myth Coaching Center to our current coaching programs, we’ve been helping business owners design a business of value since 1999. A business of value is one that is easier to manage, has fewer fires, engaged employees creates more value for the business owner, and eventually when the business owner is ready it’s a business that is sell-able.

While there are many drivers of value that a business can control to increase value today, we want to focus on Hub & Spoke. The idea behind Hub & Spoke is that the value of a business decreases the more the business is dependent on the owner. When an owner must be at the hub of the key activities in their business, they can easily end up with employees that are unable to operate independently. A business that is overly dependent on the owner faces issues such as:

• It’s hard to scale:
  • The business owner is too busy doing work to focus on growth
  • The business owner can only take on so much work, so work gets backed up or turned away
• Hiring is difficult, because the owner hasn’t created systems, training, etc. to allow employees to fully own their position
• Profitability often suffers (often because the business isn’t built to scale)
• It’s less enjoyable to manage because the business owner is still putting out all fires
• And no one wants to buy the business – because it becomes a job and not an investment

Most small business owners can relate to how important it is to have a business that doesn’t depend on them. So how do you get there? There’s no one exact answer as every business owner is unique. However, there is a best way to get started:

• Define your role as the CEO of your business. Understand what you should be doing and what isn’t getting done, because you’re too busy doing other work within your business. Think about this from the standpoint that the value of your time is worth more than most positions within the business. If you’re doing work that you could hire out for $25-50 it’s a sign that maybe you’re not doing the right work. The value of your time is something that you can calculate, but typically it is much higher than $50 an hour.
   
• Create a stop doing list. From the activity above, highlight what you need to take off your plate in order to make time for the activities that are not getting accomplished. This is the list that you’ll need to work on assigning to other positions. This could come from existing positions or positions that you may need to hire or possibly outsource.
   
• Design your business to get results through others. This is where a business coach maximizes your ability to get results. Granted, you could do this step yourself, but there is value in learning not just how to create systems, but also in learning how to create a business culture that uses systems and even how to organize, access, protect and train your systems. We often hear from clients that they’ve created systems before, but the work still doesn’t get done correctly or that no one uses them. It’s frustrating, but also something that a business coach can help you overcome. Systems entail more than just how to do the work. A great system includes the heart and logic that you have stored in your head as well as a reporting loop that allows you to know where there are issues before those issues become major problems within your business.

If you're stuck at the hub of your business you need to change how you are working in your business today and focus on how your business can get results without you.