Did you know that 96% of all small businesses fail?

Part I

Tony Reynolds, MS, CSCS, YCS Level II

Did you know that 96% of all small businesses fail? Yes, I said 96% of ALL small businesses fail.  This means that only 1 in every 25 small businesses will pack it up and close their doors permanently.   What can you do about this? Well, start by reading on!!!   

In 2002 I opened my very own strength and conditioning business.  The first year ambled on very slowly.  For 13 months I trained out of a studio in my house.  Eventually, I leased space in a local facility.  By the end of that second year I was training 55-60 sessions a week by myself.

My business growth was no surprise.  I had a decent training knowledge. Good interpersonal skills. A passion for getting athletes better and people fit which ultimately led to a growing clientele base and a nice paycheck.

I had finally become my own boss and was doing quite well.  My business was bustling and I was amazed at all of the success. Unfortunately, it didn’t take long before it all became too much.

On the surface everything looked great. I was making 1800 dollars a week and was on pace for $90,000 year.  However, underneath all of the glitz and glamour my life was miserable!!!  The more my business grew, the less time I had to do anything other than work.

Unfortunately, owning your own business is about more than just being good at what you do and going to work everyday to practice your craft.   I discovered first hand that this was only a part of my work day. 

It seemed as though when I wasn’t training a client, I was creating workouts for another 10 clients, setting up equipment, tracking my clients used sessions, creating bills, corresponding, marketing, and so on. 

The gym became my home, and I would occasionally visit my house to spend a few precious minutes with my family. 

According to a must-have book called The E-myth by Michael Gerber, I was working as a technician.  I was so engrossed in working “in my business” and reacting to my environment that I could not actually work “on my business” and make progress.  At this, it was impossible for my business to continue to grow. 

I spent $2000 for 6 hours of time with a great business coach.  It all boiled down to two priceless suggestions: 1) delegate, delegate, and delegate, 2) create as many “systems” to run your business as you possible can.

Delegation is a wonderful tool. However, it was the hardest one for me utilize.  I had no idea what I could possible hand over to somebody else.  I was/am very picky about my business and extremely anal about how it should operate.  After all, it was my “way of doing things” that caused my business to skyrocket in the first place. 

It took me a while to learn some things.  1) I am not an expert at everything.  Certain people are much more efficient at and qualified to do certain business oriented tasks than I am (i.e. accounting). 

2) If I had a solid system in place anybody could do many of the tasks I would engross myself into on a daily basis.   It was not someone else’s lack of ability that caused me to do all of the work. It was my lack of a structured system that was at fault!!!

So where did I start?  Well, I will tell you that in Part II.