randallg99
Bronze Contributor
How many hours were you working:
a) when you were creating your business (getting it off the ground etc...)
b) after your business is running and turning profit
c) growing your business (hiring employees etc..)
each at different stages of your business' life.
MP
a) I lived, breathed, ate and s**t the biz. I dont think I had a moment to myself. Even my gf at the time broke up with me because I wasnt giving the prima donna enough attention and friends did not understand my committment to the business. I was up to 85 hours per week for the first 6 months, but probably averaged 80.
b) my duties shifted and I started holding more meetings outside of my offices. Still work, but it was not until my 2nd-3rd year my staff started employing systems properly. My time investment was 5 full 10-12 hour days plus 1 half day for a total of 55 -65 hrs per week.
c) when taking on larger locations for retail showrooms and warehousing, my time was reinvested in form of real estate expansion for my own benefit. So while it was still considered work for my company, it was also a new avenue towards a different business. Today, my involvement in 2 businesses are very intertwined and are operated out of the same offices in any of my locations. So, the total time commitment (including phone calls in car and reviewing reports/materials at home) is about 65 hours total. This number is actually less in the summer time (apprx 55 hrs +/-) as I have spent more time with family.
I have seen some people get involved in businesses to get into the fast track immediately. And while it has worked for some, the vast majority lose their zest all too quickly, either because they are discouraged or the business just has not met expectations, financially, emotionally, etc... There is no obvious answer to how much time someone should spend on their business, but if the person is not happy or fully committed to the biz, then the results will have detrimental effects.
A passion for building systems and implementing them is crucial to ones success. Anybody can have great ideas, but executing them makes or breaks you and if you can execute them in 10 hours a week or 100 hours, the job depends on your committment.