I have just read an article written by a business consultant – click here to read the article – about the two types of entrepreneurs: Small business owners who “drown” themselves into their business and small business owners who “avoid” dealing with their business’ day-to-day operations at all cost.
I obviously endorse the latter and many entrepreneurs would (or should) agree with me. Of course, there is one exception: Entrepreneurs who love and passionate about working in their own business.
Regardless of your business and personal endeavours, I recommend you to be an absentee owner of your business. Here are some benefits of being an absentee owner:
- You spread risks through diversification – e.g. if you have 3 businesses, you will have your business risks “shared” among those three – no more %90 failure rate for startups.
- Less time on and for your business, more time for your personal and/or other business endeavours to build your small business empire.
- Small is beautiful – owning multiple small businesses is better than running one big business; a big business is too complex and too slow in decision making and change of business directions, while small businesses are easier to manage and can respond to changes better and faster.
Now, building a small business empire consisting of multiple small businesses is not easy. Some entrepreneurs do want to be absentee owners, but can’t afford to be one, just yet. Bill Gates is having a difficult time to be one (largely because of the size of his Microsoft) and so do other budding entrepreneurs. You need to plan to be one – it’s not something easy to do when you have already “trapped” yourself in your business. Tim Ferriss of the “4-Hour Workweek” has done it, and it involved information diet, mindset changes, outsourcing life and business reorganisation and restructuring – not easy, indeed.
Here are some practical tips to be an absentee owner of multiple small businesses:
- Start a business in a certain niche than can allow you to be an absentee owner easily and develop a system in the business that will enable you manage your business, hands-off. Rinse and repeat.
- Structure your business in such a way that you, the business owner, are “removed” from the business system – let other people do.
- Consult with experts specialising in helping you to be an absentee business owner, such as these Seattle business consultants
Where to seek more information
If you are a new entrepreneur ready to go for absentee ownership or an experienced entrepreneur looking to transform the way you handle business, you can look for info on becoming an absentee owner using the Internet.
You should read articles on top entrepreneurship sites, such as Entrepreneur.com. Also consider visit sites offering professional business consulting, especially the ones that can help you to be an absentee ownership, such as HandsOn-Solutions.com; talk with them about your situation and to learn whether they can help you achieve your vision.
Ivan Widjaya
Absentee business owner