Towards the end of my time running my most recent business (sold it a couple weeks ago), I took a bit of time off. For the first time in 4 years running it, I stepped COMPLETELY away for 2 weeks. A few realizations:
- After some initial discomfort/dependence, the team starting problem solving themself and eventually settled into a new way of working
- Everyone (kind of) seemed to “grow” in those 2 weeks.. and it was so significant that I actually noticed a difference when I came back
- I maintain that founder should own the sales process for as long as possible
Curious what other folks running small/medium sized enterprises in the group think. I’m starting to feel like stepping away is actually good for both you and the business. Any other experiences?
Ran a small business for ~5 years & sold it for $600K — my biggest takeaway
byu/globetrotter_001 inEntrepreneur
Posted by globetrotter_001
4 Comments
How truly insightful. It reminds me of the profound human capacity for adaptation when given space. Such personal and collective growth is a beautiful thing to witness.
sounds like maybe you were assigning tasks not outcomes, and stepping away forced more independence. likely could’ve had these results sooner and under your supervision if you directed them.
u/hammerandgrind
Fake story move along
It’s absolutely a good thing. It was a mistake I made in my first business as well. When I’m advising clients now, one of the top goals is always to build a system/team around them to enable them to step away for progressively longer periods (1 week, 2 weeks, then 1 month). The less a company relies on one person, the more valuable that company is when it’s time to sell/recap.