We all know what the rat race means in the deepest, darkest corners of our psychology. It’s that point you reach where you’re spending all your time on your work and none of it actually enjoying the fruits of your labor.

The whole point of working hard and creating value is so that you can avoid having to spend your time doing something that you don’t want to do in the future. But getting to that stage is elusive. The majority of people call it “retirement.” But there are a lot of folk out there who know that the real path to that dreamy world of fortune is “entrepreneurship.” 

Not all entrepreneurs manage to escape the rat race, though. Some remain mired in their day-to-day tasks, just like regular workers, except they don’t get to clock off at 5 pm most evenings. Instead, they have to continue working and powering through to get the job done. 

 

Some founders, though, do manage to escape the rat race. What is it that they’re doing differently from their peers? Let’s take a look. 

 

They Focus On Creating Value, Not Completing Tasks

 

The job of the entrepreneur is to work out what needs doing and then gather the resources required to carry it out. Unfortunately, a lot of people new to business leaders see it as a kind of extension of their existing work. They carry on performing their old role and might hire a few extra people if the order book starts filling up. 

That’s not a great way to run a business, and wildly successful entrepreneurs understand this. They know that the real way to win in business is to focus exclusively on creating value. 

 

But what does this mean in practice? 

 

Essentially, it means looking for ways to scale a business model. If you’re making $5 in profit every time you cut somebody’s hair or publish a news story, it’s about finding ways to cheaply repeat that model as many times as you can. Remember, entrepreneurs don’t get wealthy by selling more and more of their time. They do it by creating something that takes finite time and then getting customers to buy it as many times as possible. That way, they get to keep their weekends!

 

They Automate All Non-Core Tasks

 

 

When you run a business, you have enough on your plate, providing your core services. The last thing you want to take up your time is marketing or your accounts. It’s an additional pressure you don’t need. 

 

But there’s good news – you can outsource the majority of these specialist tasks, according to www.virtualoffice.sydney. For instance, you don’t actually need to hire a receptionist anymore – you can get a third-party company to do that for you. The same goes for offices and even personal assistants. You just pay for the time you use, negating the need for full-time staff. 

 

They Trust Their People

 

It can be hard to trust people, especially in our day and age. But remember, we now live in a society where the vast majority of people want to be “good boys and girls.” The disadvantage of this zeitgeist is that we have more conformity. But the advantage for employers are people who are less maverick and less likely to commit crimes against you. It sounds odd to say it, but there are good reasons to believe that the workforce today is much more trustworthy than it ever was in the past. Employees are terrified to act out of pure self-interest and are usually more than willing to contribute to yours. 

 

Trusting people is difficult the first time you do it. But once you learn how, it becomes much easier to put your company on auto-pilot.

 

Think about it: do you really want to spend all your time supervising your people? Or would you much prefer to let them get on with the day-to-day tasks while you seek out new opportunities? 

 

They Don’t Compete

 

Competition is great for consumers, but it’s terrible for producers according to www.sidehustlenation.com/rat-race/. You’re continually having to watch your back and work at least as hard as your competitors. If you don’t offer continual refinements and improvements to your processes, you wind up losing customers to your rivals. That’s not something you want. 

 

Smart entrepreneurs, therefore, deliberately attempt to avoid competition at all costs. They try to find monopoly opportunities where they can avoid price and brand pressure from their rivals. This way, they get to keep more of their income as profit and can more easily survive in the marketplace.