Whether you are involving in a brick-and-mortar business or an online business, you must understand that not all businesses are created equal.

Some businesses allow you to practice hands-off management, enabling you to be a passive business owner.

Some other businesses just don’t allow you to take your eyes-off the business – doing so might cause your business to stumble and lose traction in the market they are in.

The first time I entered entrepreneurship, I thought that everybody wants a hands-off business. The truth is, business owners often don’t want to stay away from their businesses, not even a second.

This, in return, creates a group of entrepreneurs that described themselves as “24-hour-is-not-enough entrepreneurs.” Some are simply workaholics, some are simply die-hard fans of their business concepts, and some are simply want to get out but the circumstances don’t allow them to.

I am a member of the latter entrepreneur group. I want to get out and work on other business opportunities; I don’t like to mingle too long in a business – My reason is, doing so will shut your creativity and lose you opportunities.

I want to build a business, not a job!

For those that share the same view, this blog post is just for you :)

Many businesses are simply jobs you create yourself

But first, let’s set things clear first.

You can make money out of your talent and ability, but you are not necessarily build a business. You are your biggest asset. The big plus is, you are in total control of your business. The big minus is, if you didn’t work, you don’t make money. The example of entrepreneurs in this group is sole proprietors, freelancers and doctors. Can they get rich? Sure! Are they building a sustainable business? I guess not.

In other case, online business is make money online, but not all make money online is online business. You can freelance or offer SEO services to others, but that won’t make you a business. You ARE your business. Just the same like in the above paragraph, if you didn’t work, you don’t make money.

For example, being a paid blogger for a large blog network is a make money online activity, but not necessarily an online business. However, managing a team of bloggers to write for blog networks that are looking for fresh content regularly is an online business.

Basically, online business is all about creating asset – list of existing clients and leads, list or partners, and “trade secrets.” You can make thousands of dollars online but have zero asset – One major weakness of this: You can’t sell yourself when you are quitting. But with online businesses, you can sell them to make capital gains.

Those businesses are not ideal for many reasons:

• You create yourself a job – you can get downsized yourself, by going out of business.
• You don’t create a tangible assets.
• You’ll get stuck on your business, which is no difference to a job, but with no paid holiday perks – even worse than a job!
• You can’t sell your business and move on. You ARE your business – You can’t simply sell yourself to investor!

Build a business, not a job

You could say, “But I build a multiple make money websites myself – So, I do create asset.” My answer is, “You sure can – it’s the wonder of online business. But there is a threshold that limit you in the number of businesses you can run.”

The same important part of the equation: time.

You only have 24 hours a day. Minus sleep, daily activities, and a bit of procrastinating, the maximum amount of time you could spend working is 16 hours (unless you want to get into health problems.)

To leverage your time, you need to build a sustainable business, in term of profitability and “managability”

The key is “let other people do.”

Hire someone. Delegate. Outsource.

Yes, doing so will cut your profit in the form of his/her salary or fee, but your time is a much bigger part of the profitability equation. You can always create other businesses and follow the same pattern of delegation. You will eventually end up having many “egg basket” instead of putting your egg in one basket, and you’ll be surprised that your profit is doubling exponentially while having time to have fun and hang out with your family and friends.

I understand that you love your business so much, that delegating is an impossible thing to do. But in my opinion, that’s mainly due to your ego (I’ve been there before.) You and I have to learn to set aside our ego and do what matters most – increasing the quality of your life, financially, physically and mentally.

Ivan Widjaya
I love being a jobless business owner :)
Image by Diego Cupolo.