Small Biz

Spend Some Time Outside the Office to Build Your Business – I work from home, but that’s not what I’m talking about here as my tip. I’m talking about as a business owner/manager you spending a part of your work week away from the office.

When I was managing large production operations, at least once per week I would be at my home desk by 7:00 a.m. and then off to the regular office by noon. I accomplished more projects and long range planning during this block of time than during any full day the rest of the week.

The cost to me for this time out of the office was a few more phone messages on my desk when I arrived. Otherwise, the company continued to function in my brief absence. In fact, people were forced to make decisions and come to their own conclusions, which made each of them better employees, supervisors, and decision makers.

If you tell me, “I could never do that. This place cannot function for even half a day without me,” then I’m going to tell you that you’re doing this thing wrong. Managing isn’t doing all the work or making all the decisions. Managing is empowering your staff and spending your own time building your business. (That may have to be your 1st project to work on at home.)