Entrepreneurs sometimes commit the mistake of keeping such tight control over their business ventures that they tend to lose sight of the fundamental objectives with which they had actually started out on the path of entrepreneurship. When they launch a business, what really drives them to take risks is a passion for their business coupled with an unquenchable thirst for independence, financial and otherwise. However, on the way, some of them become so involved in the business operations that they have no time left to safeguard their personal life, spend time with their family members, or pursue any hobby. That is when they need to stop and ask these questions: Am I self-employed or running a business? Does my business venture work for me, or am I working for my business venture? Can my business run even for a single day without me?
The big difference between a self-employed person and a business owner is that the latter hires employees, delegates them all the critical tasks, responsibilities, and authority, and becomes the boss. In contrast, self-employed people keep working daily to keep their business units running because they haven’t yet learned the importance of delegation. In other words, if you are a business owner, you have other people working for you. And if you are self-employed, you have made yourself so indispensable that your business cannot run in your absence. Many entrepreneurs fail to understand this truth and are reluctant to delegate because they fear that delegation is the same as abdication. Such entrepreneurs end up becoming self-employed people rather than becoming business owners.
So, if you want to become a business owner, you should be able to extricate yourself from the day-to-day operations of your business enterprise by delegating all the critical tasks, responsibilities, and authority to your employees. Unfortunately, even very mature entrepreneurs fail to switch to the role of business owners and keep slogging away for their business units throughout their entire life and then strive to project it as a passion, not a delusion. If you are a business founder and you tend to connect with what has been described above, it’s time to take stock of the situation. Break free! Have a vacation! Gradually hand over all the tasks and responsibilities as well as the corresponding authority to others and let your business enterprise run without you so that you can focus on fulfilling the dream you had started with when you set out on the path of entrepreneurship by launching your business.
