Comments on: “Work on your business, not in it.” Huh?

By: Business Lists

Business Lists — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 05:05:16 +0000

For me this phrase means to keep thinking for some ways on what you can do for your business work for it to grow or to be more success

By: Venture capital

Venture capital — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 13:34:04 +0000

I've met several business coaches that had used this phrase, literary speaking the phrase can be either right or wrong guess this will depend on how an individual define it

By: Karri Flatla

Karri Flatla — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 17:55:13 +0000

(Michael Gerber really is the bomb. I've not read his books but I listened to an audio of him being interviewed a couple years ago and does he ever hit people between the eyes.)

ANYWAY, interesting post because I always mentally trip over the “in your business” vs “on your business” bit even though I'm an avid consumer of entrepreneurial “stuff.” AND I'm a copywriter!

Goes to show that it's best not to assume anything about your audience. I have to wonder if most ppl read the web at a Grade 8 level not just because of poor literacy BUT because despite intellect or whatever, who really has the time to process this stuff?

Just give it to me straight

By: Why should you work ON your business? | Direct Help from Business Developers

Sun, 05 Apr 2009 02:58:39 +0000

[...] Angus Gordon from Melbourne Australia is frustrated with the use of the phrase “Work On your Business, not In It“. In his opinion, not only is it poorly worded, it really doesn’t apply to a lot [...]

By: Angus Gordon

Angus Gordon — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 14:36:43 +0000

Very interesting comment Shawn and I'm glad you like the blog. Yes, clearly the phrase does resonate for a lot of people. As a business coach you have the time to expand on what it means, so the fact that it's initally rather enigmatic doesn't matter as much. I would almost see it as a good thing, in fact – taking the time to unravel the phrase gives you an way of starting a conversation with your client about how they percieve what they do in their business. Or do all of your clients actually see the point immediately??

Anyway, the problem I have is when people like your clients fall in love with the phrase so much that they plaster it all over their marketing material – especially when their customers include people like me, whom it *doesn't* resonate for. It's all about context.

By: skinkade

skinkade — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 09:12:03 +0000

Angus – good post.

I'm a business coach that's guilty of using this phrase – and part of the reason I use it is that it really resonates for some people (in fact I signed a client yesterday who told me that he found that to be a compelling idea).

You are in the fortunate (and maybe smart) minority that knows what you want to get out of your business and you've figured out a relatively painless way to make that work.

I will tell you that many business owners are really good at what they do, but they aren't terribly good at the rest of the business issues (marketing, selling, managing people, finances, etc.). The E-Myth is about a business owner that is working too many hours, not making much money and so bogged down with the day to day responsiblities of the business that they no longer enjoy what they're doing.

Their choice? Get a job with someone else or make improvements to their business model so they can get back to enjoying what they're really good at. For some of them, that may drive them to more of a freelance model with minimal overhead and focus on the product and very little else. However imagine if you really wanted / needed to make 10X the amount of money that you make today – it's likely that your current business model would not be able to make that happen, you might have to hire people, you might need more marketing and sales activities…all the stuff that you may not enjoy doing.

I agree with you that's it not a very elegant phrase (and if you can think of a better way to phrase the concept, let me know). However the concept – for the right business owner is very appealing for a lot of reasons.

Thanks for sharing, I enjoy your blog.

Shawn