hello my name is Gary Shotton and today I’m going to talk about the three levels of business growth and I’ve observed this now for many years and I’m actually going to make this one of my theme lessons in a bigger way than the just this 8 to 10 minutes but I’m going to summarize it here first of all if you’ve never owned a business probably your first step is to be a good worker in a job you have to learn how to work you have to be diligent and you cannot actually in my opinion lead workers unless you’ve been a good worker so I would start with that then when you come to business ownership there’s three levels in my opinion number one it’s what I call the one-person band one-man band you might imagine somebody that has a strap around their neck and they have a harmonica and they can play the harmonica by blowing in the harmonica and then they have something that they have on their foot and they’re pushing their foot up and down up and down and that’s one of the drums and they have the other foot with a cymbal and that’s doing the cymbals and then they pull around maybe a guitar and they’re playing the guitar and they’re playing the guitar you know what that is is a one-man band well a lot of businesses start that way I started that way I had the need own to get revenue when I moved to my new town and I was the one person band oh I had a helper but I was everything I put the ad in the paper I answered the phone I went out and drove the vehicle – in this case a traitor behind my car my wife helped me one time I was doing everything I was I was doing the accounting I was doing everything and I did that for two years but it wasn’t long until I realized you know I’m going to be an old man real fast and wear out my body if all the rest of my life all I’m doing is moving furniture heavy couches and refrigerators and washers and dryers the things that people in our house so after two years I really started to do what I would call my own business where I became now though person that’s number two a level of business where I’m in control and you know that’s where my dad was the entire time that I was a child he was in control he had us workers and we’d Grove tractor but men if we needed anything we just asked dad dad told us what to do there’s thousands of businesses that the business is the one person they’re in charge they’re in control and if you want to know what to do just ask them well that’s what I did I just you just asked me go do this go do that well it wasn’t long until I could see again that I’m getting worn out now that can be very efficient in fact I was a restaurant that we eat at regularly they have a wonderful restaurant and it’s full but it’s only open from two from 7:00 in the morning till 2:00 in the afternoon and that person when I got to talk to him has been a business owner for 47 years but the last 11 years he’s been I’m in control restaurant owner wear every single day he’s at the cash register and everybody knows what to do and he’s just observing and we know what that’s the best restaurant I want to go to because he is in charge so some businesses and some of you should stop at that level don’t feel that you’re inferior if you don’t go on but I wanted to go on to a higher level so I started this machine shop originally with the idea that I was not even in control I was not I’m at the third level I wanted to create processes and systems and have the ability to have freedom and I call this a freedom level so one is one land but one person in a band one person doing everything number two is one person in charge of everything without a lot of need for systems and processes and then then a system it’s a process I call a freedom level now you could be free to do a lot of things if you’re going to do free to be create other stores like a duplicate like a franchise so you have your system going at one location now you’re free to start other other businesses in my case I thought of that I wanted to do that two different times but I decided against that because I didn’t think that was the style I wanted so I’ve always been though not a one or not I’m in charge all the time but I had freedom to do things because I have systems and processes and in my case I had wanted the freedom to do what I’m doing with you right now I wanted the freedom to travel to Africa I’ve been in 35 countries I didn’t want to be married and tied down to the business by I’m the only one in charge of everything so the freedom is what I want and also it allows you to grow and guess what when you have that kind of a business that’s actually worth more when you want to sell it so the three levels first it’s not even level and get a job learn how to work then the first level one be in charge learn everything that’s fine number two or that’s a one-person band number two is the ability to direct everyone and be in charge from start to finish with just a few people delegated but the third level is freedom freedom to do what you want outside of that business freedom to be gone for a week I was talking to a realtor group and the person’s most amazing realtor but the person in charge had not been away from business for more than a day for weeks and years and the goal I encouraged them is that this business owner be in a position to be gone three weeks without calling back with any questions about the business I have done that I’ve been gone three weeks to Africa and my business was better off than when I left it when I got back well I hope this helps it’s how you structure your business it’s a way you think about your business and I want you to think all the way through just a little bit at the beginning to know where you’re headed thanks for being a smart part of inspiring better business