I Own My Own Business, and I Work Hard

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- by Todd Jensen

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I just finished reading The 4-Hour Workweek, by Timothy
Ferris. I have to admit I was fascinated by the
headline, and a little offended, too.

As a business owner, I happen to believe in the value
of hard work. One of the major challenges of running a
business is finding other people to hire that also
understand that “work” is not a dirty word. I am tired
of dealing with incompetent, lazy people with glowing
resumes and recommendations. I like hanging around
people who are not afraid to work.

Our country was founded on the backs of people who were
willing to work hard for their futures and their
beliefs. Fifty years ago, or even twenty years ago,
most of our citizens understood that they did not have
the inalienable right to HDTV and video games. Most
people were happy to put in an honest day’s work for an
honest day’s pay.

After reading a few chapters of “The 4-Hour Work Week”,
I found out the truth. The title was an excellent
marketing ploy. The entire premise of the book is not
to avoid the fact that work must be done, but to find
other hard-working businesses and individuals to
perform the work on your behalf.

Mr. Ferris clearly understands the value of hard work.
He has paid his dues and put in his time. He has also
figured out that work for work’s sake is a waste of
time.

The number one role of a business owner is to work him
or herself out of a job. If you want to own a strong,
successful business, you must learn to put systems in
place that allow the business to run effectively
without you. If your business is dependent on you, you
are the weak link that could lead to its failure.

And guess what. Working yourself out of a job is hard
work. It cannot be done overnight. You will make
mistakes, and learn from them. Hopefully, your
successes will outweigh your mistakes, so your business
will prosper long term.

As for myself, I am willing to work hard now in order
to need to work less later. I am willing to set up
systems to manage my business so I don’t have to handle
everything personally. I expect that these systems
will fail at some point, and I am willing put backup
plans in place for every critical area of my business
operations, just in case. I am willing to do whatever
it takes to earn the right to work less than forty
hours a week.

When I have earned the right to work less, I may or may
not choose that path. I like to work. I have plans,
things I want to do, and work I want to accomplish. If
I work smart, I will work myself out of doing those
things I do not want to do, so I have more time to work
on the things I like.

I choose to work on those things that matter to me, so
I can do my part to help make our world a better place
to live.

Care to join me?

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Todd Jensen, “The Profit Engineer”, has helped hundreds of
business owners make their business more successful and
profitable. For tips and strategies on how to boost your
business success as well as increase your profits, visit
http://www.freebusinessstartupinfo.com or
http://www.maxqtc.com
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