The Richard Branson tool...

Am I a Technician, Manager or Business Owner?

It was Michael Gerber in his book "The E-myth" who identified that there are three roles a business owner can take in his or her business: first is the role of the Technician (the carpenter, or lawyer, or architect etc). Second comes the role of the Manager; the person who manages the day to day of the business, and thirdly there is the Entrepreneur; the person who holds the vision for the business.

The work of the entrepreneur is the work of the business owner as opposed to the work of the business. Most small business owners spend too much time in the technicians role, a little (and not enough) time in the managers role and hardly any time in the role of the entrepreneur, doing the work of the business owner.

Expert Small Business Owners, Great Small business owners, know to balance their time between the demands of the Technician, the Manager and the Entrepreneur... Do You?

This self-assessment is designed to give you some food for thought on the question: Are you a Technician, Manager, or True Business owner...

You will get a score on my "Richard Branson" scale and I will send you back a short commentary on your score... I hope it will throw up some useful thoughts for.

There are 10 statements, with 6 possible responses to each statement. please select the box beside the response that comes closest to your reality... there is no right or wrong, we are simply interested to find out what is most "Real" for you.

Please select only and exactly 1 response to each to each statement, or it becomes very difficult to process the survey adequately.

Also... Please make sure you have something appropriate filled in to each field that has an asterisk * in front of it right here at the top of the survey (First name etc...) if you don't, then the system will return an error and you will have to start all over again...

First Name : *
Family Name : *
Country : *
State : *
City : *
Business/ company name : *
Type of business :
Business size (num employees, or turnover, or some other measure)
Business stage :
email address : *
ph num 1 :
ph num 2 :
website :
How did you find this site? *

**Fields marked with a are required***

When I return from a holiday of a week or more, I find my business:
Didn't even register I was gone
Ran better without me
Got by more or less
Really struggled to get through the week
Looks like a bomb hit it
A week... I wish... I can't get away for more than an afternoon

When the business phone goes at 6.30 pm, my first thought is:
Don't be silly my business phone is switched off after 5.30 pm
They must have had an issue... they dealt with... they want to tell me about it and get a pat on the back
There goes dinner
I don't have time to think... because the phone never stops going
Oh no, please.... not again... what now?
Panic

When a client rings with a request my first thought is:
To pass it on to the appropriate employee and invite the client for a round of golf, or lunch or a coffee...
To hunt around for someone else, anyone else to carry out the request
To ask for more time
To say “No”
To drop everything else and carry out the request
To drop everything and hide

The last time I took an hour to do nothing but think about my business was:
Today
Yesterday
This week
This month
This year
Can't remember

Delegating or outsourcing is:
The only thing left to delegate is my golf game
Fun
Difficult but worth the effort
Takes too much time... rather do it myself
Scary
A dirty word

The work I do from day to day is:
Planning, encouraging, cultivating clients, and keeping my fingers on the pulse
Managing staff mostly
Managing technical work of the business mostly
Extinguishing brush fires and managing crises
Whatever isn't done by everyone else
I wish I knew, the days disappear so quick

Being an employee in my business is:
Rewarding, fun, challenging and exciting
Pretty good, they know which side their bread is buttered on, for a while at least, some even seem to like working here
Good enough to pay the rent
Something to do between real jobs
Not a question I have asked myself much
Something I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy

Finding and keeping great staff is:
Easy, a joy... Everyone wants to work here
My responsibility
My constant worry
Hit and miss
Gen Y, Gen Z.... it's all way too complicated in this day and age
I don't

Financial management and control is:
Something I do every day
Something I do every week
Something I do every month
Something I try to do every now and then
Something I don't really understand
Something I leave to others

In my business I measure:
Everything, all the time
Some things more than others
Financial indicators mostly
A few things here and there
I wish, I don't have time for that stuff
My business is different, it is un-measurable

Please feel free to add any comments here or tell me one or two insights you gained from thinking about the questions....

For security reasons,

please answer this question:

what is the next number after: 11 - 21 - 31 - 41 ? (in numbers, not words) Hint: it starts with 5 and ends with 1

PLEASE double check that you have filled in all the fields marked with an * asterisk as well as this security field here before you push the "submit" button....if you haven't the system will return an error and you would have to start all over again.....and I am sure that will annoy the hell out of you..... !!!

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The Richard Branson tool...

Am I a Technician, Manager or Business Owner?

When I return from a holiday of a week or more, I find my business:

When the business phone goes at 6.30 pm, my first thought is:

When a client rings with a request my first thought is:

The last time I took an hour to do nothing but think about my business was:

Delegating or outsourcing is:

The work I do from day to day is:

Being an employee in my business is:

Finding and keeping great staff is:

Financial management and control is:

In my business I measure: