I grew up working with my father. He came from Cuba speaking functional English, but what he lacked in the language he made up for with a ton of talent and so he worked as a Carpenter and General Contractor.
My weekends were filled with a variety of assignments, like digging a ditch or helping him build cabinets or installing a countertop at a cafeteria. My favorite times where when we would remodel Cuban Bakeries, oh I loved to eat the free samples… but I digress.
My dad was a great Carpenter and after years of practice, I don’t even come close to mastering his most basic techniques, though some would tell you that I am not bad making saw dust and building things out of wood. As great as he was as a Carpenter, he wasn’t the best at running a business.
Don’t get me wrong, there was always food on the table, and we had a very nice home, but he did not own a business. He was self-employed and had helpers. Sometimes they were paid in free samples at a bakery, but often times they were guys he knew that he would pay a wage to during the week. He had businesses before, mostly in Puerto Rico where I was born, but he had help from a partner or my siblings – I am the youngest of 4 – to run the business.
Living in Miami, my father was always self-employed, and that worked OK. It gave us the income we needed, maybe not the one we wanted, but again there was a roof over our heads and food on the table.
When I come across businesses that have reached a certain level of growth I stop and ask myself, “Is this a business, or is this person self-employed with help?” Breaking that statement down you start to see situations where the owner of the business is just interested in making enough money to live the lifestyle they like, often called a “Lifestyle Business.” The business is there to promote the owner’s lifestyle and when it gets to a certain size and profitability, the owner does not see any need to grow it further.
There are examples of Lifestyle Businesses that keep growing because the owner’s lifestyle keeps getting more expensive, so it isn’t a “one size fits most” type scenario.
What if you built a business because you enjoy building new enterprises? What if you build them to a scale where they become attractive to others for purchase? There are many who do this time and time again, come up with an idea, build a company to make the idea real and then build it up to a point before selling it off and starting all over again. Those are the Serial Entrepreneurs.
There is yet another example where you build the business and grow it, but then as the founder, take a “job” at the business and let others run it. You stay on as “founder,” but the company is its own entity and will grow beyond you and provide jobs and income for many people for a long time. Maybe your children will inherit it, but the company continues on because it is structured to do that without the founder driving it.
So, what kind of business do you have? What kind of business do you want? It is important to know because if you are self-employed, you are the primary worker, and everything revolves around you. It is possible that the day you decide to retire, the company closes, and you are done. Or, maybe, what you want to do is build it up so others can take over and you simply benefit from the profits and just come by from time to time to check on things.
If you want to understand what kind of business you have and maybe follow it up with a conversation of what you want it to be, please reach out at rick@gramatges.com – you may discover that what you have is the tip of a very profitable iceberg.
Gramatges Consulting 