There is a shared dream that unites all entrepreneurs when they first set out to be shakers and movers, and that is to have a business that works for them. Rarely does the reality pan out this way, especially at the start. More often than not, we end up working for our businesses, in our business rather than on it and working even harder than we did when we were an employee, with a monster of a boss.

The simplest way to determine just how dependent your business is on your presence is to think about what the repercussions would be if you stepped away from it – almost entirely – for a day, a week, or even a month. Would it thrive, survive, collapse or be swallowed by the sands of time? Think about it. What would happen?

To assist you so that you can begin to address this seriously, I have pulled together a list of things that you can start doing, beginning today.

Stop Being A Helicopter Boss
Nothing is worse for your business than you hovering over people all the time and answering every question that they may have, sometimes immediately. Few things are worse in the workplace than a boss who is a micromanager, and who is not allowing employees to do their job. You hired these people for a reason, and that reason was probably quite specific. Therefore, get out of the way and let them grow as people. Start trusting the people you hired so that you don’t have to be there all the time.

Stop Losing Sleep
If you panic about your business every time you have to go away, then it’s time to find out why out why. What is it that has you worried? If it is an issue to do with technology and data monitoring, then consider outsourcing this to someone like ClearFuze Networks. If you are concerned about who will make the final decisions in your absence, sit down with your managers and talk through your concerns. Teach them, educate them and learn to trust them. Whatever your worries, address them.

Take A Vacation
At some point or another, you are going to have to take the plunge. But instead of seeing this as a negative, see it as a good thing. Use it to see just how your company runs without you. It could just be a few days, or a week or two, but go! Take time off, turn your phone off and leave your business in the hands of those you’ve employed. Will this be terrifying? Of course, it will. However, when you return, you will be able to assess what occurred while you were gone, where the problem areas were if any and where your team succeeded. Only then will you know where to focus your energy going forward.

No More CEO
The title of CEO rarely matches up with the jobs you actually do. So, consider deleting it, in your head at least. Get rid of it and then make a list of all the tasks you have done in the last year instead. This exercise will give you an exact idea of what your role is and then allow you to delegate each of them to others. When you review your list, you will likely discover that you were taking on a lot of your managers’ roles. You may think that your plan to delegate more will create more responsibility for your team, but it probably will not. It simply means giving them full responsibility and opportunities to sharpen their skills, which is exactly what your staff of high-achievers has wanted along.

Decide what to delegate and make it happen, sooner than later.
In the words of Jessica Jackley, Co-Founder of Kiva, “Deciding what not to do, is as important as what to do.”

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