Donald Burns explains how a business owner's priorities should shift as the business grows: early-stage owners must focus on day-to-day operations while using long-term goals as a guiding frame; financial reports help set short-term goals; once profitable/comfortable, owners can focus more on long-term purpose, legacy, and scaling the brand.
What you love about your business changes as you grow and mature, your focus needs to adjust as well. And if you're just starting out and you're focused on just the long term, you're probably delusional. When you're just starting out, you focus on the day to day and use your long term goals to guide you. And your financial reports are going to help you set short term goals. If you're in a comfortable position where you know you're making the money you want, then you have a chance to start focusing a lot more on the long term and your why. And you're also in a really great position to build a legacy, to really start scaling out your brand.
If your restaurant only works because you work 80 hours a week, it doesn't work.
