Remembering the 80/20 Rule

I always read the 80/20 principle to mean concentrate on the few things (the 20%) in life that are truly important and you will be happy. When I started Wolfgang the 80/20 principle was top of mind. I chose to run a business so that I could spend more time with my family and control my income. My basic strategy was to work on areas where I provided the most value and hire the right people to take care of the rest.

The first two years were great. I was making good hiring decisions, the business was growing 15% year over year and I was taking every second Friday plus an additional month off. Sweet! Then something happened and the company started growing 50% year over and year. Probably because I was making good hiring decisions and taking time off?

When Wolfgang took off, I stepped further back from operations and sales. Smart move, I needed to spend more time on strategy and alignment. Unfortunately, I freaked out and started to feel guilty about not working as hard (time in the field) as I had in the past. So, to compensate, I started micromanaging in order to feel like I was working “harder”. Every second Friday off got the axe, eight hour days turned into twelve hour days and then my vacation time started to shrink. Guess what happened to our growth? Wolfgang stalled.

This year I hired a coach to skill me up and help me feel more confident in my new role. Also, I have made a key hire in our operations divison, gave him lots of support and let him do his job.

Most importantly, I am spending more time with the family. Last week we headed to Parksville and spent three days exploring tidal pools. In short, I am spending more time working on the important (the 20%)aspects of my life.

Guess what the business is trending to grow by 60% this year!