Almost everyone starts at the same level on the Entrepreneur’s Ladder (at -1 level) but not everyone makes it to the TOP.
At the Level -1 … you are a STUDENT. You invest time, effort and money to get education and you are in this phase for quite some time learning in theory. The best use of your time in this phase is to learn as much and as fast as you can. Not for grades but for knowledge.
Then you graduate to the next level as an EMPLOYEE which is actually Level 0. Here you are working for someone else and you get paid for your time. Your investment in learning has stopped… in fact you are now getting paid to learn Practically by doing it. You are getting paid to acquire skills..! Your goal in this phase should be to experiment, make mistakes and gain experience in different roles, different functions and domains.
Not everyone aspires to be a business owner and for most, the journey continues as employee. Only a small percentage aspires to come out of this comfort zone of JOB (Just Over Broke ..!) and jump into business. Your experience in different domains will help you take the plunge and to succeed in your next level. By the way, next level (Level 1) is NOT business ownership. We have coupe of steps in between. In business, we normally start as SELF-EMPLOYED.
Make fewer mistakes here as YOU have to pay for them yourself..! (Now you know why you should experiment and make mistakes as an EMPLOYEE? ) You have started a business and your first goal should be to make it stable and profitable. It is called Self-Employment because you are actually in a job, 24×7, which you cannot even resign and go away. Everything in business revolves around you and nothing moves without you. I couldn’t count how many businesses I have seen existed for decades… yet not able to operate without the owner.
Sooner you onboard team members and trade your money for their time, you will find yourself in the next level (Level 2) of being a MANAGER. You can now manage people and manage performance to get the desired output for your business. Here you are developing systems and team to take care of business, so that you can yourself upgrade to becoming the OWNER
At Level 3 as the OWNER, your business has just started running without you because you have a capable Team that works with Systems to Grow business Consistently. You now have both, time and money from this business. You can now choose to step up to Level 4 to be an INVESTOR as you have Time & Money to invest in and build your next business.
Once you learn how to stabilize and grow businesses and make it run on Auto-Pilot, you can run multiple businesses simultaneously. You can even buy, build and sell businesses at higher valuation which makes you an ENTREPRENEUR… the final step, Level 5 in the ladder.
Below level 2, YOU are working hard for MONEY and above level 3, MONEY works hard for YOU.
Where do you think you are on the Entrepreneur’s Ladder?
Where ever you are, it is a matter of choice as to how long you want to wait in your current level? And how soon you want to climb up the ladder. I said it is a matter of choice, because there are concrete strategies and action plans to move up the ladder should you choose to.
The tips we share are a small part of what we do at our coaching sessions.
If you’d like to take the whole framework and install in your business, then do drop an email at sameer.waghode@expandusbusinesscoaching.com with subject line as “Scale Session” and we’ll reach out to you with all the details quickly.
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