# Building a Job vs Building a System



## SampleTees (Jul 12, 2009)

I was reading a book recently and I thought that I would share some of the insight that I learned with you guys/gals. I used to always proclaim that I wanted to work for myself. I wanted to own my own business. I didnt want to answer to anyone. I realized that my thinking was not logical because no matter what you do. Most of the time you will have to answer to someone, whether it is a customer or a government. Then I read a book that helped me to tweek my ideology just a little bit. There's a saying and it goes " do what you love and the money will follow." This may be true but their is only one problem. The problem with doing what you love is - YOUR DOING IT. As a kid I loved to draw and when I would draw a great illustration most of my pals would ask me to draw one for them. I did this over and over again and soon I lost interest in drawing for others and my drawings lacked my full integrity because of how exhausted my hands were from drawing. Well that prooved the theory that doing what you love all the time doesnt work 100%. Instead I believe you should do what you love once, and duplicate it. This is why I am involved in the T-Shirt business. I can make one design and duplicating it is simple. IF YOU OUTSOURCE THE DUPLICATION PROCESS. If you have a press in your home that's great but your ability to reproduce designs and tees on your own is finite. 

I read about a village where the people had to hike 5 miles to a stream in order to bring the water buckets home to their families. There were 2 entrepreneur's who decided to bring water back to the village on a daily basis for a small fee to all the villager's. One of the men would get up early and took a few tubs with wheels attatched to them and he would work from 3am to 9pm at night every day and taking only Sunday off. The villagers were happy that they didnt have to do the work of getting the water themselves, and they were happy that they had water brought to them by another person who didnt charge much money for his services.
To the naked eye this was a great business idea. Until you hear about what the other business man did to compete with this water bucket hauling service.

The other man was gone for months looking for people to help him with getting water to the villager's. This is what he did. 

1. He assembled a team of advisors 
2. He gathered enough money to build a pipeline.
3. He asked local contractors and builders to bid for their building services

4. After one year the pipeline was built, up and running. It was able to purify the water and brought water from the mountain all the way to the water well in the village. 
5. He then marketed his services to the 
Village
6. He then collected a monthly fee for the water that was provided to the village 

7. He then duplicated the service to villages world wide.

This was an example of building a system. I use to say I want to work for my self but now I say I want a system to work for me. Examples of a good system.

- Mcdonalds ( a 16 year old can manage the place as long as they follow the franchise system)

Are you building a job that will fail if you leave for a year? Or are you building a system that you can leave for a year and come back to see business better than it was when you left.

Any thoughts?

Thanks for reading


----------



## out da box (May 1, 2007)

Sounds like notes from the E-Myth. No?
Good stuff.


----------



## SampleTees (Jul 12, 2009)

E-Myth? No, I never heard of that. Is it good? The book I was referencing is called the cashflow quadrant by Robert Kiyosaki


----------



## tdigital (Sep 14, 2008)

Ridge, I was thinking the same thing. Everyone who owns a "successful" business (not a job) knows this and employs this. They key is creating a system that allows you to create a structure for employees to follow. This is a great thing for employee comfort and understanding, as well as you guaranteeing and maintaining the quality of your product.

Check out e-myth. I read cash flow quadrant years ago. It wasn't until I read e-myth that I was able to truly put these ideas into practice.


----------



## BillyV (May 8, 2009)

The Cashflow Quadrant by Robert Kiyosaki is a good read for all.


----------



## princessracer (May 31, 2009)

I've been wondering about that.. I'll have to get a hold of those books.. 

What systems are you guys using?


----------



## tdigital (Sep 14, 2008)

There's no one-stop system. What i've done is surveyed the industry, took note of what shops were doing right/wrong and began building my own system based on my target market.


----------



## SampleTees (Jul 12, 2009)

tdigital said:


> Ridge, I was thinking the same thing. Everyone who owns a "successful" business (not a job) knows this and employs this. They key is creating a system that allows you to create a structure for employees to follow. This is a great thing for employee comfort and understanding, as well as you guaranteeing and maintaining the quality of your product.
> 
> Check out e-myth. I read cash flow quadrant years ago. It wasn't until I read e-myth that I was able to truly put these ideas into practice.


I just watched a dvd on E Myths it was awesome. Michael Gerber identifies the key to running a turn key business innovation quanitification and Orchastration. Good Reads.


----------



## SampleTees (Jul 12, 2009)

AdVanceNetworks said:


> The Cashflow Quadrant by Robert Kiyosaki is a good read for all.


Awesome book I loved it. Check out richdad.com at your convenience


----------



## Tony50 (Apr 23, 2009)

tdigital said:


> There's no one-stop system. What i've done is surveyed the industry, took note of what shops were doing right/wrong and began building my own system based on my target market.


I agree with Johnny, there is no one system for everyone. Everyone does different things, different ways. Prior to settling on anything, do your homework ( due diligence). Ask the tough questions, check the resources like Impressions, Printwear, forums. Then make a decision not based on now, but where you see your company being in say 2-5 years.


----------



## Crescent (Jul 25, 2009)

Another vote for E-Myth here! Have been working on the business instead of IN the business as much as possible since reading these books. It makes a huge difference.


----------

