How to Build a Business Others Want to Buy

Chapter 3Do you get it, want it and have capacity?

By my calculations, right now, as I write, I have around 40 years left to live, which is 14 240 days. That sounds rather dramatic, but I think we all need to be a bit more cognisant of how little time we have left to live.

It's all relative, of course.

Ask a teenager what they want from life and they'll say, ‘I want to sleep in.’

Ask an octogenarian what they want from life and they'll say, ‘I want to wake up!’

I have so little time left (no, I'm not terminally ill, I just love life and want to get the most out of those 14 240 days) that I feel compelled to help my staff get the most out of their days too. Work plays such a major role in most people's lives that it's fair to assume that if they don't like work, they probably don't like life very much either. If they're unhappy, they're more likely to leave their job, and I don't want that for them, or for me. Hiring is expensive. I want my staff to stay for as long as possible.

The mother load

When a journalist asked comedian Hannah Gadsby how she ‘identifies’, she said, ‘I identify as tired’.

She's not alone. Most business owners of a certain age are. Many of those I work with are running ragged. They're up at 5 am, at the gym by 6 am and at work by 7 am. They work full tilt for 10 hours, skip lunch, get home, have dinner with the wife and kids, crack open a bottle of wine, blast through a bunch of emails and hit the pillow at 11 pm. They get up the next day and do it all ...