“Work in your business first and move out to work on Your Business!

Last Friday, I attended the inaugural Entrepreneurship Network of Zimbabwe Awards where Dumisani Ncube, an award-winning entrepreneur from Zambia was the keynote speaker. In his address, he said something profound; Advice I will apply to my business as I believe it will add a million dollars to my bottom line.

Although what he said was not new, it cemented what I always tell my clients; The only difference is that I was hearing this from someone I admire.

When I first heard him speak, I developed the dream to share the stage with him and Vusi Thembekwayo, and I hope the dream will come true.

One of the striking moments from Dumisani’s address was when he said that you need to work in your business first and then move to start working on the business. When a business starts, it often has a few employees, which means that you are often playing many roles at once as the founder and entrepreneur behind the business.

However, over time, when you begin employing people, the key thing is delegation, you have to start delegating and handing over some of your responsibilities to others.

Many people come to me for advice on lucrative businesses to invest in. My answer is always the same; Invest in something you know and are passionate about. Any business can make money if you are willing to put in the work.

In any business, you are going to face tough times, and if there is no passion, you will quit whenever the tough times hit. Stop chasing the money and start chasing the vision.

The other part of Dumisani’s statement focused on working on your business. One of the challenges I gave my leadership team was to make me irrelevant. I’m the first employee in M&J who would has to be fired.

In my company, we do many things from Implementing Accounting Systems to Building Websites. If I sit down to install an accounting system, I’m working in the business which is what I should not be doing at this time since I have 75 other people to do that.

Right now, my role is strategy and business development, not day-to-day activities. Yes, although I need to know what’s happening; I don’t have to be on the ground to achieve that as I have systems in place to keep me apprised of the goings in my business.

Take a look at our artists for example; Promoters will always pay more for an artist who comes with a band than one without. That’s why artists like Jah Prayzah make more than $10K per show.

One of the concepts I use to run my business is that of being dangerous enough. In the first 4 years of my business, I was heavily involved in everything(working in the business), meaning I got to learn and know all the nitty gritties involved in the operational side.

Now that I’m not heavily involved, I can easily find out if someone is lying to me about a deadline and how much work it takes to complete a certain task; It’s that concept of being dangerous enough.

If you want your business to grow beyond you, you have to learn to quit and delegate. Your business should not stop because you are sick or because you are dead. Groom other leaders so that they can drive and move your business forward.

You should not run a business where you are the only one knowing the passwords, customers, suppliers, and processes.

Stop working in your business and start working on your business.