When is your Business Finished?

Here’s a question for you… when is your business finished?

With the increased emphasis on the sustainability of a business, this is a bizarre question, I know. But it’s the one question that really gets you thinking about why you are in business in the first place. And it’s the one question that will get business owners out of the rut of merely existing and trundling along like the proverbial hamster on a wheel.

Many of you may think that it’s impossible for your business to be finished. There will always be something else to be done, more opportunities to be followed, more growth, more of this, more of that.

So, what do we mean by the question “when is your business finished?”

Is it finished when you’ve made enough money to stop working and retire? Is it finished when you can sell it for a sizable profit? It is finished when it can continue operating and generating income without your day to day input?

Your decisions, actions, and strategies on a day to day basis will be completely different depending on your definition of a finished business.

Defining your finished business will help guide your goals, planning, targets, and milestones giving meaning to your existence. It’s another way of looking at your long term vision and end goal. If you are an individual business owner this is important. If you have multiple shareholders in the business, it’s even more important to have a common definition of your finished business.

Turn it on its head. If you don’t define when your business is finished, your customers might define it for you and stop making use of your products and services. And then your business, and you will be truly finished.

As a business owner, it is important to think deeply about your business rather than getting bogged down in the operational humdrum. And one of the most effective questions to ask yourself is, “What will your finished business look like?”

• How many hours a day or days a week would you work?
• How would you typically spend your day?
• How many offices or branches would you have? Local or global?
• How many employees? What roles would these employees play?
• How many products/services would you offer?
• What would your business be known for?
• What would your annual turnover be?
• What would your business be worth when it is finished?

Then ask yourself, what would it mean to you if you finished your business?

A finished business will give you freedom. Freedom to sell or not to sell. Freedom to work in or not work in your business. Freedom to travel and have the business operate without you. Freedom to start another new business again.

And isn’t that what we all ultimately want. To do what we choose to do!