There comes a point in the life of almost every successful small business when the very thing that helped build the company starts holding it back.
The owner.
I know that because I’ve been that owner.
You start the business because you’re good at something. You know how to clean carpet, tint windows, install plumbing, cut hair, landscape a yard, whatever it happens to be.
Then you get customers.
You hire some people.
You grow.
And before long, you’ve created a company where everybody seems to need you for something.
The good news is that means you built something.
The bad news is that you may have built something that can’t grow much further without changing your role in it.
That was one of the big themes that came out of my recent Locally Owned conversation with entrepreneur Tim Jordan.
Tim bought his first business when he was only 21 years old. Since then, he has bought, built, scaled and sold multiple companies, including helping grow a major floral operation and continuing to own SG Window Tint.
And somewhere along the way, Tim learned a lesson every business owner eventually has to confront:
Your time cannot scale.
Listen to My Conversation With Tim Jordan
In our conversation, Tim and I get into revenue plateaus, financial literacy, developing leaders, employee ownership, systems, community, business exits and one of my new favorite productivity ideas:
Zombie Calendar Blocking.
But before we get there, let me take you back to Valentine’s Day.
What Does It Mean When a Business Owner Says, “My Time Can’t Scale”?
It means there are only so many hours the owner can personally contribute to the company. Growth eventually requires systems, technology and other people to produce results without depending on more hours from the owner.
Tim learned that lesson the hard way.
It was February 13, 2013.
He was 24 years old and preparing his flower shop for Valentine’s Day.
The following day they needed to deliver more than 300 arrangements in about 12 hours while also handling hundreds of additional walk-in orders.
Their system?
Carbon-copy paper order tickets.
Tim remembers standing in the middle of the shop while employees ran around him. He had flowers in one hand, order tickets in the other, customers everywhere, and he simply froze.
What he later recognized as a panic attack was really the culmination of a business that had outgrown the way it operated.
Tim did what entrepreneurs tend to do.
He muscled through it.
He stayed up until 3:00 in the morning manually routing deliveries through Google Maps, returned at 6:00 a.m., and was still personally delivering flowers at 10:00 that night.
They got it done.
But getting it done wasn’t the same thing as winning.
The experience forced Tim to realize that if the company was going to grow, it had to become capable of operating at scale without continually requiring more of his personal time. Eventually, that flower operation went from roughly 300 Valentine’s Day deliveries to about 1,200 in the same 12-hour window.
That’s not accomplished by the owner learning to run faster.
It happens by building a better business.
Stop Managing Time and Start Investing It
This was probably my favorite idea from our entire conversation.
When Tim said, “My time couldn’t scale,” I realized the deeper issue wasn’t really time.
It was attention.
Think about it this way.
If time is money, every one of us gets the same 24 dollars every day.
What are you spending yours on?
There is work that costs you time.
You perform it today, the time disappears, and tomorrow you have to spend that time all over again.
Then there is work that gives you a return on your time.
Training an employee gives you a return.
Documenting a process gives you a return.
Building an effective sales system gives you a return.
Developing a leader gives you a return.
Figuring out why customers aren’t converting gives you a return.
Creating something today that continues working tomorrow is an investment.
That’s one of the biggest transitions an entrepreneur has to make.
Early in the business, your value comes largely from what you can personally accomplish.
Eventually your value has to come from what you build that can accomplish things without you.
Why Do Small Businesses Hit Revenue Plateaus?
A business often plateaus because the systems, people and processes that got it to its current size are not capable of supporting the next stage of growth.
Tim’s window-tinting business spent about four years stuck between roughly $800,000 and $1 million in revenue.
His first instinct was probably the same one many owners have:
We need more leads.
So they spent more on marketing.
But there was a problem.
They didn’t have a lead-volume problem.
They had a lead-conversion problem.
They were pouring more water into the top of a leaky bucket.
Once they improved how leads were followed up and nurtured, their conversion rate jumped from around 30% to 42%.
That led Tim to one of the best lines in the episode:
Start behaving like the company you want to become, not the company you currently are.
Want to become a $2 million company?
Then what systems would a $2 million company need?
What financial information would management need?
What kind of leadership would be required?
What would the sales process look like?
What would have to work without the owner touching it?
Start building those things before you get there.
Know the Scoreboard
Another thing I loved about Tim’s story is that he entered business ownership with a finance background, while his wife came from accounting.
That gave him an advantage many entrepreneurs don’t have.
Most of us start the other way around.
We’re good at the work first and learn the financial side later.
I know I did.
But running a company without understanding your financials is like playing football without understanding the scoreboard.
You can have great players.
You can execute great plays.
You can move the ball up and down the field.
But if you don’t know what the numbers mean, you can play really hard and still lose.
Tim advocates using a simple weekly business scorecard so owners stop managing by emotion and start making decisions based on what is actually happening in the company.
You don’t have to become an accountant.
But you do have to learn the language of your business.
Sometimes the Solution to Your Problem Is in Another Industry
One of Tim’s best examples came from the flower business.
They were struggling with delivery-driver turnover.
The conventional answer would have been:
“That’s just the flower industry.”
Instead Tim asked a better question.
Who is really good at employing delivery drivers?
Jimmy John’s.
Domino’s.
So he went and talked to people who operated those businesses.
The answer turned out to be tips.
Flower recipients generally weren’t the people purchasing the flowers, so historically there wasn’t the same opportunity to tip at the door.
Tim’s team began asking the purchaser if they wanted to include optional gratuity for the delivery driver.
The result?
Tim says the company saved approximately $40,000 in payroll during the first year, drivers earned around 30% more, and turnover dramatically improved.
I love that.
Sometimes we become so accustomed to how our industry operates that we stop questioning it.
“That’s just how it is.”
Maybe.
Or maybe somebody in a completely different business solved your problem ten years ago.
What Is Zombie Calendar Blocking?
Zombie Calendar Blocking is a productivity method where an important calendar block is never allowed to disappear. If an emergency forces you to miss it, you immediately move the block forward to another available time.
In other words:
It comes back from the dead.
Hence the zombie.
Every business owner knows what happens with traditional time blocking.
Tuesday from 9:00 to 11:00:
Work on employee training system.
Sounds great.
Then Tuesday morning arrives.
A technician calls out.
A customer complains.
The truck won’t start.
The credit-card machine quits.
And your two-hour block quietly disappears.
The mistake is allowing it to stay dead.
Tim’s rule is simple:
If the work was important enough to earn a place on your calendar, it remains on your calendar until it gets done.
You may have to move it.
But you don’t delete it.
Tim normally identifies only three to five important-but-not-urgent priorities for his week rather than pretending he can perfectly block every minute of an entrepreneur’s unpredictable schedule.
I love the practicality of that.
The goal isn’t to have a beautiful calendar.
The goal is to make progress.
The Work That Changes Your Business Usually Isn’t Urgent
This may be the biggest reason owners remain trapped inside their companies.
The things that will improve your business six months from now usually aren’t screaming at you today.
Writing an SOP isn’t urgent.
Developing your next leader isn’t urgent.
Reviewing your margins isn’t urgent.
Building a training program isn’t urgent.
Fixing your follow-up system isn’t urgent.
Until suddenly it is.
And by then it has become another fire.
That’s why owners have to deliberately protect time for important work before it becomes urgent.
There will never magically be a day when everything settles down and somebody announces:
“Dave, everything is handled. Why don’t you spend the afternoon working on your strategic plan?”
That day is not coming.
You have to take the time before the business gives you permission.
Sometimes Keeping a Great Employee Means Letting Go of Some Ownership
Tim also told a story about a young employee named Landon.
Landon was talented, ambitious and had unusually high emotional intelligence.
There was just one problem.
Eventually, Landon wanted to own a business himself.
Tim could have ignored that.
He could have kept giving him raises.
He could have promoted him.
And maybe that would have extended the relationship another few years.
Instead, Tim looked further down the road.
What happens when Landon eventually leaves?
Tim loses someone he has invested years developing.
Landon starts from scratch.
The company potentially takes a step backward.
So Tim made a bold move.
He sold Landon 40% of the company.
Now their interests were aligned.
Landon didn’t have to leave to become an owner.
Tim kept a talented leader who cared deeply about the company.
And Tim could move further into the visionary role the business needed him to occupy.
Sometimes the smartest way to protect what you built isn’t holding onto every piece of it.
Sometimes it’s giving the right person a meaningful piece of it.
The Goal Is Not Just More Money
Toward the end of our conversation, I asked Tim something I like asking experienced entrepreneurs:
What did you believe when you were younger that you don’t believe anymore?
His answer surprised me.
When Tim was younger, entrepreneurship was primarily a money game.
It isn’t anymore.
He was quick to clarify that he’s still money motivated.
I believe him.
But somewhere along the way, money became the scoreboard rather than the reason for playing.
What excites Tim now is building companies where people genuinely want to work.
Companies where employees grow.
Companies that do good work.
Companies that create opportunity.
And I think there’s tremendous maturity in that.
Tim said that as businesses gain consistency and maturity, the motivation often moves beyond simply cashing another check toward something that gives the owner a deeper sense of purpose.
A healthy business can do far more than create wealth for its owner.
It can create jobs.
Careers.
Confidence.
Friendships.
Stability.
Opportunities.
And better lives for the families connected to it.
That’s a pretty good reason to build a great company.
Want to Learn More About Tim Jordan?
Tim has taken many of these lessons and built Service Catalyst, a peer community for service-business owners who want better systems, greater clarity and a business that becomes less dependent on them.
That mission fits this conversation perfectly.
Service Catalyst is built for service-business owners who are beyond the earliest startup stage and want practical systems, peer advisory support and sustainable growth without remaining the bottleneck in their companies.
Learn more about Tim and Service Catalyst:
Service Catalyst
What Have You Actually Built?
That may be the question I walked away from this conversation thinking about most.
Not:
How busy are you?
Not:
How many employees do you have?
Not even:
How much revenue did you do last year?
But:
What have you actually built?
If you disappeared for 30 days, what happens?
How strong are your systems?
How capable is your leadership team?
Do you understand your financials?
How predictable are your sales?
How dependent is the company on your personal relationships, knowledge and effort?
And ultimately:
Would somebody else want to own this business?
You don’t have to be planning to sell to care about the answer.
Because I have learned something from selling my own company and now helping other owners prepare theirs:
Building a business someone else would want to buy is usually the same work required to build a business you’ll enjoy owning.
Better people.
Better systems.
Cleaner financials.
Less owner dependence.
More profit.
More options.
More freedom.
That’s a business worth building.
Take the Free Business Readiness Assessment
If this conversation with Tim has you wondering where your own company stands, I created a free Business Readiness Assessment that will give you an at-a-glance snapshot of your business today and some of the factors that may be increasing or limiting its value.
It is not a full business valuation.
It is a place to start.
I’ll also include a free consultation so we can walk through what you discover and talk about what you can do next.
Take the Free Business Readiness Assessment
Build a business worth building, so you can live a life worth living.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I build a business that can run without me?
Start by identifying work that currently depends on the owner and gradually replace that dependence with documented systems, trained people, measurable processes and clear accountability. The goal is not for the owner to disappear overnight. The goal is for fewer activities to require the owner’s direct involvement.
Why do small businesses hit revenue plateaus?
Businesses often plateau because the systems and people that supported one level of revenue cannot support the next. Rather than automatically increasing marketing, owners should examine conversion rates, capacity, leadership, pricing, margins and operational bottlenecks.
What is Zombie Calendar Blocking?
Zombie Calendar Blocking means important work cannot simply disappear when emergencies interrupt your schedule. If a calendar block gets displaced, immediately move it to another time so the important-but-not-urgent work stays alive until it gets completed.
How can an owner stop being the bottleneck?
Begin by identifying decisions, customer interactions, processes and responsibilities that unnecessarily require the owner. Then develop people and systems capable of handling them while the owner shifts attention toward leadership, strategy and the long-term health of the company.
Does making a business owner-independent make it more valuable?
Generally, reducing unnecessary owner dependence can make a business more transferable because a buyer is purchasing an operating company rather than simply purchasing the owner’s personal job. Other factors such as profitability, financial records, customer concentration, recurring revenue, management depth and market conditions also influence value.
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