What is the key difference between an owner operator and a wealthy entrepreneur? Simply put it’s this:
When planning out their business, the wealthy entrepreneur builds an asset. The owner operator builds a job.
An entrepreneur in my view is someone who creates a business to build long term wealth and therefore start out with the view of their business as an entity that is separate from them. They look from the beginning to build a business that will become independent of them and as such will feed them income when they are no longer working in it. The owner operator builds a business that is dependent on their skills, talent, time and energy. They in effect build themselves a job.
The wealthy entreprenuer understands that it is necessary to put their own time and energy into the business in the early years, but that the game is to decrease their input over time. The owner operator will often believe their input is the lifeblood of the business and thereby the create a dependency. This feeds the ego, but does not build passive income.
Often it is the mindset from the outset that makes the difference between a wealthy entrepreneur and someone destined to work in the business like a job.
What is your mindset? How are you looking at your business right now? Do you have a goal and a plan for decreasing your businesses dependence on you?
To ensure you don’t remain tied to your business forever, the time for thinking about your exit strategy is NOW!