Anything You Want

1.

Gather everybody around.

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2.

Answer the question and explain the philosophy.

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3.

Make sure everyone understands the thought process.

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4.

Ask one person to write it in the manual.

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5.

Let everybody know they can decide this without me next time.

After two months of this, there were no more questions.

Then I showed someone how to do the last of the stuff that was stil my job. As

part  of  learning  it,  he  had  to  document  it  in  the  manual,  and  then  show  it  to

someone else, too. (Learn by teaching.)

Now I was total y unnecessary.

I started working at home—not going into the office at al .

I had even taught the employees my thought process and philosophy about hiring

new people. So our two newest employees were found, interviewed, hired, and

trained  by  other  employees.  They  used  that  manual  to  make  sure  al  new

employees understood the philosophy and history of CD Baby, and knew how to

make decisions for themselves.

I'd cal in once a week to make sure everything was OK. It was. No one had any

questions for me.

Because my team was running the business, I was free to actual y improve the

business!

I moved to California, just to make it clear that the running of things was up to

the employees.

I  was  stil  working  twelve-hour  days,  but  now  I  was  spending  al  my  time  on

improvements,  optimizations,  and  innovations.  To  me,  this  was  the  fun  stuff.

This was play, not work.

While I was away, my company grew from $1 mil ion to $20 mil ion in four

years—from eight to eighty-five employees.

There's  a  big  difference  between  being  self-employed  and  being  a  business

owner.

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Being  self-employed  feels  like  freedom  until  you  realize  that  if  you  take  time

off, your business crumbles.

To be a true business owner, make sure you could leave for a year, and when you

came back, your business would be doing better than when you left.

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