Issue 32 - on why you might want to go employee-run

In the last newsletter I talked with Chris Maslin of GoEO about why you might want to go employee-owned. This time I'd like to talk about why you might want to go employee-run.

Why might you want your business to become employee-run, or as some might call it, self-managed?

1) Because you know your home life is about to turn upside-down:

Perhaps you're expecting a baby,or moving country with your partner's job, or about to take on a carer role. Maybe you've got planned surgery coming up that will take you away for a significant length of time. Maybe you want time out to write a book, get a PhD, become a Master of wine.

2) Because you know your business life is about to turn upside-down:

Perhaps you want to start another business, or you're planning to seriously scale this one beyond what you can currently manage. Maybe you want time to thoroughly investigate a new market for your business at home or abroad. Maybe you plan to go employee-owned or hand the business to your children, and you want to make sure it will work. Perhaps you just need a long holiday or you finally want to retire.

Making your business self-managing, or as I call it employee-run, makes any of these changes easier, and gives you a business you can come back to if you want, or leave for good if you have to.

3) Because you're not planning any of these things, but you want to be ready just in case.

As a reader of this newsletter, you already know the steps:

Spell out your Promise of Value, so everyone knows who you serve and what you stand for.
Package up your Promise, so everyone knows what you offer.
Write down how to Share your Promise so that anyone can attract the right clients.
Write down how to Keep your Promise so that everyone can delight any client.
Write down how to use feedback to improve how you Package, Share and Keep your Promise, so that everything and everyone can evolve and grow.

Most of what you need is already there, hidden inside your head and the heads of your team. So if you have some notice for these changes - say 6 or 7 months, you can everything done before you have to go, or if you prefer, get the foundations well and truly laid so maintaining momentum while you're away takes minimal intervention from you.

By the time you’re done, you’ll know your business will be safe while you transition.

So will your team,

And so will your clients.

And of course you could always start before you know you need to.

Over the next set of newsletters I'll go through how to actually do this for your business, using my model and methodology, with the aim of making things as practical and actionable as possible.

Do let me know how I get on.

Meanwhile,

Thanks for reading.

PS I'm embarking on writing a useful book about how to go employee-run. If that appeals to you, I'd like to make a request:

Would you be a beta-reader for me?

Beta reading starts with the Table of Contents, and continues chapter by chapter (possibly even section by section as I write them. And you get to use a cool piece of software to do it.

I'm not asking you to sign up for all of it, just as much as you have time for.

If you're interested, just reply to this email, and let me know how much you can do, and when you'd be able to start.

Thanks.

PPS Are you planning any of the changes to your life or business listed above? If so, let's talk.