She’s doing most of the work herself right now. She’s talking to the clients, running back and forth to court, and handling most of the intake. She’s tired.

She’d like the business to run like a business. She doesn’t want to be on call 24/7. In fact, she told me that she started reading my posts because she heard that I travel full time. She loves that idea (I do too), and she’d like to spend more time away from her office.

She wants to know how to work on the business instead of working in the business. She’d like to figure out how to get away from the day-to-day.

Her situation isn’t extraordinary. We talked about her practice. She has a steady stream of new business, and she’s getting help from her associate, two paralegals, and an administrative assistant. She has a part-time bookkeeper helping as well. It’s a tidy little business that’s humming along so long as she keeps herself fully engaged.

But that’s not what she wants. She’d like it to hum along without her moment-by-moment engagement.

“How can I get away more?” she asked. There was a pleading tone as she asked.

The Answer

I responded.

She stared at me. I could sense some hostility.

I had said, “Just leave.”

She wasn’t thrilled with my response. I apologized, but I didn’t mean it. I had already told her what to do, and it’s the right answer.

If you want to run a business instead of doing a job, then you’ve got to treat it like a business. A business makes money regardless of whether you’re there. It makes money while you sleep. At least that’s true if you sleep during working hours.

Business owners aren’t present during all operating hours. Business owners aren’t essential to the day-to-day operation of the business. The business is a self-contained entity with people, structure, systems, processes, products, and services, and it continues whether the owner is around or not.

But, but, but…who manages the business? An employee. Who talks to the clients? An employee. Who does the marketing and intake? An employee. Who hires the employees? An employee. Who does this and who does that? An employee.

How do you get employees to do all that? You let them do it. Won’t they screw up? Yep. Won’t you make less money? Probably.

How can you get away more? Just leave. It’s incredibly simple. It really is.