9 lessons from high performing business owners

ONE. The top business owners know what they want. They have a very high level of clarity. Because they know what they want, they only focus on doing things that get them to their goal. They don’t fluff around doing things that are not aligned with this. In addition, they ALL focus on one thing. Not two things – just one. They understand if you try and chase two rabbits, you will catch neither. They Focus On One Course Until Successful (FOCUS). Because they can clearly see what they want, they can easily handle obstacles when they arise.

TWO. They puppeteer the process. Imagine for a moment a soccer (football) team playing a game of soccer. They are about to kick off. Now imagine that you are floating above this game of soccer. You can see your team below. The centre forward, the left and right forward, the wings, the goalkeeper etc.

They are all in position, and they know what they need to do (score goals and win the game). They are the puppets, and you are just the puppeteer. That is, you need to 1. Figure out the game plan is and what the game is about 2. Decide what positions you need to fill 3. Hire people based on the right skill. 4. Keep them focused on doing their job to a world-class level.

Great business owners puppeteer the process and remove themselves from being the puppets. If they ever do get onto the field to play, they stay in their genius and hire around them – that is, people to take the roles they are not great at. They spend a lot of time ‘off the field’ analyzing what needs to be accomplished and who can help them achieve this. They look at their game from a 30000-foot view.

THREE. They focus on a stop-doing list more than a to-do list. They know that doing less is the key to their success – so constantly hand over tasks to others. They work on a stop-doing list at least every week. They are masters at delegating and handing tasks over.

FOUR. They put themselves first, the team second, then the customer third. If they are not functioning at a high level, the rest of the business suffers.

Many high-performing business owners take 5 to 7 weeks a year out to recharge. They understand that 1 hour of inspired work beats 6 hours of uninspired work – so they are ok taking lots of breaks. If you go to a gym and do weights, you won’t actually get the growth until you rest. The same is true in business. Your growth, insights and inspiration come in your downtime. They look after themselves mentally, physically and emotionally.

FIVE. They don’t waste time trying to figure things out. They really understand that one of their greatest sources of leverage is other people’s knowledge. They are very comfortable with asking for help.

They find the top 5 people in their industry and take them out for a coffee or lunch to learn from them. They know this is the fastest route to their success. They all have mentors – paid and unpaid – and are always acting like the dumbest person in the room.

SIX. They get that one of their number one tasks is hiring the right people. They are always on the lookout for the best of the best. They respect the impact a high-performance team member can have on their business – and they are not afraid to take the risk to invest in the people to help them grow. They almost always see a return on investment from these decisions.

SEVEN. They understand that attack is their best defence. If you were to watch a sporting team defending during the game, you can almost guarantee that they are going to lose the game. When there is difficulty, great entrepreneurs step up and attack. They get clear again on what they want and move forward to attain this.

EIGHT. They invest enormously in self-education, from reading books and listening to podcasts to courses and engaging coaches and mentors. I have never worked with a top-performing business owner that didn’t invest a huge amount of time and money into their self-knowledge. They know it’s what they don’t know that hurts them most.

NINE. They plan their year, quarter, week or day. If you don’t have a planning system by now in your business, I suggest getting one or getting a job. There is just too much to achieve, and you need a system to help you figure out what needs to get done and what order of priority you will do it in. Top business owners invest 2 days to plan their year out, 1 day each quarter, 60 minutes each week, and 10 minutes to plan each day. This creates a huge amount of flow for them and helps them move forward in a really controlled and powerful manner.

Have a great week,

Robbo