Efficient Freedom
[by Charles Gupton]
I once had a strong disdain for franchises as a means of business ownership. It seemed to me to be a sell-out to a system that limited the freedom of an owner too much for my liking. Especially after I watched a photography buddy of mine give up his heart and passion for photography to explore, and eventually buy, a franchise business so that he could earn a stable income for his family.
Although I’ve not hit a point that I’m ready to buy a franchise, I’ve come to appreciate the value of having systems in place which allow me to have other people do repetitive tasks that distract from my creative idea generation and production. We all have basic duties such as billing, accounting, client follow-up, photo file backup, etc., which needs to be taken care of on a consistent basis but don’t require any creative brains cells to get completed.
Because I worked in the “solo-prenuer” mindset for most of my career, I found that I did most of the work myself. When I did delegate tasks to assistants, my directions were not very clear because there was no effective system in place to get consistent results until my assistants established them.
As it dawned on me that I needed more effective means of getting rote tasks completed, three different people – within a one-week period, no less – recommended the book “E-myth Revisited” by Michael Gerber to me. Having read it, I realized that great systems are less about limiting one’s freedom to work than they are about creating opportunities to be creative. Also, creative people need to see that systems require an ingenuity of their own and systems-oriented people often use creative process to manage and tweak their systems to make them more efficient.
I doubt that I will ever be a systems person by nature. But I’ve come to appreciate that a lot of my creative energy gets drained by a lack of reliable, repeatable systems to get the seemingly mundane tasks off my mind so that I’ve got the brain space to devote to the heart-centered projects that do fuel my life.
Charles Gupton photographs real people, really well, by understanding and telling the stories of his subjects and clients. Find his photographs at www.charlesguptonphoto.com and his writing at www.charlesgupton.com.
2 Responses to 'Efficient Freedom'
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I wonder what dreams would be lost if Disney and the worlds he created didn’t have systems in place.
Just a thought that jumped into my mind as I read your thouhgts
Paul
Great post, Thanks for sharing your experience.
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sandra