Get Off The Treadmill for Business Leaders is a podcast for small business owners. In a short series, Sandy Corrigan talks with our CEO, Chuck Blakeman, about the book Making Money is Killing Your Business. The first episode is about how you can have more freedom and choice, while making more money in less time. The book’s concept is geared towards helping you create a life of significance. If you want to know more, keep reading.
Inspiration
The idea behind this book came after Blakeman had worked on thirteen businesses in nine different industries. In the foreword of the book, he writes that he’s never had an original thought. He didn’t discover new ideas in business or in life to write this book, he merely rediscovered existing, ignored ideas and repackaged them in a way that is more relevant to our time.
These ideas developed into ways of making more money in less time, and getting back to the passion that brought business owners into business in the first place. It talks about how to produce three things in business: time, money and energy. These three things allow business owners to live a life of significance.
The Significance Formula
Time + Money + Energy = the ability to have a significant life. Blakeman bases this off some advice he received. He was told that in your twenties you have all the energy and time but no money to do anything about it. In your forties and fifties, you have all the money and energy but no time. In your sixties and seventies, you have time and money but no energy. According to Blakeman, the key to life is figuring out how to get all three at once.
After starting our sixth business, we wanted to come up with a different strategic plan. We didn’t know how to do what we wanted, which is a common problem among entrepreneurs. However, it’s not about knowing how, it’s about knowing where you want to go.
Money Doesn’t Equal Happiness
Business owners usually start a business to make money. Often we assume that the more money we make the happier we will be. After opening five businesses, we realized that this is not true.
Our businesses start to rule over us, and we needed to figure out a way to do things differently. We wanted the sixth business to produce time and money. The only way that is possible is if one grows a business big enough that it’s capable of running itself. So we set off on a journey that would help us start a business that serves us instead of the other way around. From that journey came this book.
Not a Book, a Life
Throughout the writing process, Blakeman used old ideas to help develop simple tools for business owners. This led to the development of a framework for building a successful business. With this framework, business owners are able to work through the 7 stages of business ownership. It becomes easier to identify which stage your business is in and how to get to the next one.
Blakeman says, “this was not a book I wrote, this was a life I lived”. It has been compared to many well-established business books as being more practical and tactical as well as visionary.
Clarity, Hope and Risk
We need clarity in order to take well-thought-out risks in business and in life. Blakeman’s book provides tools and step-by-step processes to gain clarity on how to get off the treadmill. This in turn creates hope that all business owners can achieve their lifetime goals. It is about bringing clarity and hope so we are able to take the risk to reach stage 5 and 6 of business ownership.
This book provides the fundamentals of business in ways you may never have seen before. We have heard from hundreds of people that it has not only changed their business, but their lives too. Follow the podcast series and contact us for more on how you can run your business and live a significant life.
