You know what the biggest problem is with most businesses?
The owner and the stuff between their ears 🙂
Many think they are lazy and in a way they are. They just work on the wrong things. A simple example, the painter who is willing to paint for twelve hours straight but won’t take five minutes to record their hours, expenses and experiences for the day so they can have data that will help them write better estimates.
A person told their entire youth that the secret to their success is to go to college doesn’t want to listen to anyone who tells them otherwise just as the person who had it ingrained in them that working for the same company for forty years was something to be proud of doesn’t want to hear about a plan to retire in ten years. So if an entrepreneur has continually heard that it just takes “lots of hard work” doesn’t want to hear that the most important part of their success in business comes from what they do in research, planning, accounting, reporting, etc.
The “best” painter can tell you all about the different brushes, different types of paint and can put the pain on the wall like Picasso put it on a canvas. The most successful painting business owner is the one who can tell you exactly how much they must produce per hour, per employee to profit exactly what percentage, they can give you a profile of their ideal client, they can tell you their three, five and ten year plans with incredible details and more.
Do you want to be the best painter or the best business owner?