We’ve all heard it. “Do what you enjoy.”
It’s one of those phrases that sounds simple, feels motivating, and looks great on a poster.
And to be fair, it’s not bad advice. After all, most of us started our businesses because we wanted to do something we cared about. Something we were good at. Something that gave us energy rather than drained it.
But here’s the thing: as time goes on, many business owners find themselves doing less and less of what they actually enjoy.
Instead, they’re managing cashflow, firefighting people issues, or wrestling with systems that never quite seem to work properly. The joy gets buried somewhere under the weight of everything else.
We’re not the only organisation that encourages business owners to do what they enjoy, or to make sure their business delivers what they really want from life. It’s about aligning your company vision and your personal vision, making sure the business serves you, not the other way around.
But that’s much easier said than done.
Why? Because to truly reach that point, you need to make your business significantly less reliant on you. And that’s where the real work and the tough decisions begin.
So, what needs to happen before a business owner can genuinely do what they enjoy?
Firstly, you need a great team of people who have both the ability and the desire to do their jobs to the best of their potential.
Secondly, those roles have to be clearly defined, and they need to complement each other.
Thirdly, your team needs the freedom to act. Every key decision can’t go upstairs for approval. Which means trust has to be in place, and so does the acceptance that mistakes will sometimes be made.
Then, of course, the strategies themselves need to be right in the first place.
And finally, the hardest one of all, the owner has to really believe that the business can run better without them being as heavily involved.
That’s a tough mindset shift. Because stepping back doesn’t always feel natural. Many business owners equate control with care. But in truth, stepping back is often the most caring thing you can do for your business and for yourself.
Only when all of this is in place does the real freedom appear, the freedom to choose to do what you enjoy within the business.
But here’s the caveat... it only works if what you choose to do still adds value and doesn’t step on the toes of someone who might do it better.
It’s not easy, but it’s absolutely worth it. Because when you reach that point, when your business doesn’t need you every hour of every day, that’s when it truly starts giving back what you wanted from it in the first place.
