Quick thought today that came up in a chat with my pal and Unicorn Society gym owner Javier.
We were talking about the model of “working ON” vs “working IN” your business.
And we stumbled on an important distinction.
You see, many small business owners spend too much time working IN the business: doing the thing they sell, dealing with customers, handling admin tasks, etc.
However, to get leverage, we must work ON the business. This means creating the big plans, building the systems, and training the team.
In fact, this maps pretty well to the Gym Owner Task Hierarchy.
To make it simple, all of Tier 1 and most of Tier 2 is working ON the business.
Tiers 3-5 on working IN the business.
But here’s the rub…
While you’re learning the ropes, you have to get good at working IN the business.
So for a while, working IN the business is actually part of working ON the business.
Because until you know how to work IN the business for a given task, it’s hard to hand it off.
This isn’t universally true for all tasks. Even in a gym, you may have some lower level tasks you never need to master. And you may also have some higher level tasks that it’s better to have a vendor handle.
For example, you can probably hire a cleaning company who’s better at mopping floors than you. And you definitely don’t want to build your own website.
But most gyms don’t have super high-skill employees who come in pre-loaded with higher level skills.
This means as the owner you have to train and delegate and manage. And it’s hard to do that if you suck at a given task.
In other words, most gym owners can’t go right to Tier 1 without spending some time in the lower tiers.
So if you need to become adequate at something before training someone else…
And you currently suck at it,
Working IN the business on that skill,
Is actually you working ON the business.
But remember:
You DO have to hand it off at some point, so this can’t be a forever project.
All models are wrong, some are useful,
Mark
PS: Have you signed up for BFU’s Gym Lead Blueprint yet?
In this two-hour gym marketing masterclass, I’m teaching 5 ways to generate more leads this month…
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It’s going down on Monday Sept 9th from 10a-12p est.
Btw this one is JUST for those who sign up.
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So if you want access, claim your spot HERE.