One of the hardest things for my founder clients to do, at least as we start working together, is take a break.
My clients have teams. They have people who can, for some period of time, run the company without the founder.
And yet, at least at first, the founder resists this idea.
“I want them to know I’m there for them.”
What they won’t say out loud:
I need them to need me.
No. You need them NOT to need you.
Your company isn’t worth anything until it doesn’t need you.
Until you can go away, for a month, or a year, and come back to everything as good or better than it was before.
We’re in the middle of the summer. Some founders proudly say they are taking time off, while staring at their phones in the middle of family outings and muttering things like “this will only take a second.”
Don’t get confused between what your business needs and what you need.
Take the time off.
The Fourth of July is a great time to test this out.
See who needs who.
Does the business need you, or do you need the business?
Is your business really a business if it can’t survive without you?