A sole proprietor

She mentioned that us business person do get sick. To think deeper into that, I realised that we – entrepreneurs and business owners – are often perceived as super human.

We are not super humans

We often work long hours; We sometimes think that 24-hour day is not enough; Some of us work 2×24 hours without sleep; We who are seasoned entrepreneurs juggle between dozens of business.

No wonder we are super humans :)

We are not.

We do get sick; We do get depressed or stressed out; We sometimes don’t want to get out of bed; We drink too much coffee to keep us revved-up during the day; We multitask a bit too much than normal people; We wish we can have more time for ourselves

You do get sick – When you do, how is your business?

Here’s one, single, most important question entrepreneurs and business owners should ask: When you do get sick, stressed out or simply get tired, how is your business? Will yours “get sick” too? Will yours are suddenly stop performing well?

If so, you need to rethink your business model and the future of you and your business, starting by answering these two questions: What is your situation right now? What is your ideal situation? Let’s pursue the latter.

Change the way you run your business

Is having a business run like a well-oiled machine automatically interests you? Is running a business with just 4 hours a week (like Tim Ferriss did) excite you?

Or, on the other hands, excluding yourself from your business important role is the least thing you want? Do you feel that delegating is not something you can do without any sacrifice? Does the idea of outsourcing freak you out?

Whatever your answer is, you need to change the way you run your business.

Sole proprietorship is nice – You run your own business and set your own hours. However, it is the most undependable business model. Your business stops when you stop working. You need to think of ways to better run your business.

Should we leave sole proprietorship altogether?

Some would recommend you that, but I think you can work it out somehow.

Setting up a company is not necessary, unless you decide that doing so can grow your business exponentially.

Instead, think outsourcing – When needed, you can outsource some of you business functions to virtual assistants and freelancers. This way, you can keep your sole proprietor status.

Things you can do when the bad happens

In conclusion, you need to set a business plan that covers things that should be done when things go wrong – the safety net to fall upon when the bad happens.

Treat your business plan like your diary – Put as many what-ifs scenario as possible in it for easy reference when needed.

Ivan Widjaya
Super business owner
Image by frielp.