Business Phases:Moving
from Technician to CEO

Note: For simplicity and ease of reading, the pronoun “he” is used throughout this text to represent all business owners, regardless of gender.

The health checkup shows you exactly which areas of your business need work or are underperforming. This business phases section will help you understand where you currently stand on that journey – progressing from infancy, through adolescence, and into maturity. Are you still struggling away as a sole proprietor, or are you closer to maturity than you think?

Phase 1: Infancy (The technician’s Trap)

Most businesses are started by technicians – someone who has developed a skill they are proud of, usually through working for someone else.

You see them everywhere:

The graphic designer who creates beautiful artwork and starts a design agency.

The chef who loves cooking and opens a small bistro.

The mechanic who is brilliant with engines and opens a garage

The accountant who loves numbers and opens a bookkeeping firm.

The software programmer who writes great code and starts a tech company.

The tailor who is skilled at sewing and opens a clothing alteration shop.

These are just a tiny fraction of the tens of thousands of skilled technicians who start a business every year, driven by a craft they love and want to share with the world.

Now, it may be a short time, or it may be many years, but one day, the technician looks around and sees a business running so smoothly that it appears almost effortless. Watching everything click into place day after day, an idea takes root: why shouldn’t he start his own business? Then he would have no boss and no restrictions, and he could show the world what he could really do – and be free.

More time passes. The technician is aware there are a number of downsides to running his own business, but he has thought these things through and believes these obstacles can be overcome. Despite the risks, he thinks this is a sound decision, and therefore decides to open his own business.

Unfortunately, the technicians thinking is flawed. He assumes that because he knows how to be a baker, a tailor, or a gardener, he automatically knows how to run a business that does that work. But a business is not just about the craft itself; it is a complex machine made up of many moving parts, each requiring skills the technician may or may not have.

Soon the reality sets in. Whether it happens as a sudden shock or a slow burn, the technician realizes the sheer weight of what he has done. He has given up his security, invested everything, and the exciting dream of freedom now feels totally unrealistic. Unlike his old job where his salary arrived automatically, he now bears the crushing pressure of finding customers, delivering the work, and managing employees – all on his own.

Months or even years later, exhausted both mentally and physically by the endless 12-hour days, the technician finally hits a wall. At the end of his tether, he realises he cannot keep going like this. He knows he must either downsize his business and turn away customers, liquidate the venture entirely, or get some help.

Phase 2: Adolescence (The
Multi-Hat Struggle)

To survive, the technician hires one or two staff members, and for a short time he has less work to do. But instead of finding relief, he now has to train, supervise, and correct mistakes.

And so, once again, the technician finds he is still not coping well in running the business. Even with extra help, he is still feeling overwhelmed, and out-of-his depth. Something has to change – and deep down, he knows what it is.

Aside from the technical work, which the technician is continuing to do, he is wearing far too many hats: CEO, COO, general manager, marketing director, and the heaviest hat of all – managing his staff. One of his employees uses her initiative and at a moment’s notice will help out in any area she can. But the other one, a young man, needs direction, more training, and a job description.

Realising this still wasn’t working, he reluctantly decided he must give up his hands-on technical job in order to free up his time.

Driving home that night, it seemed to him that this was the answer he had been looking for. It felt right. By giving up his hands-on technical job, he would finally have the free time to build the systems and job descriptions necessary to truly run the business. It wasn’t a question of what he wanted to do, in his heart, he knew he had to do this to make the business successful.

He knew he didn’t want to hire an expensive professional to replace himself. Instead, his philosophy was to hire someone with basic skills but high potential at a lower cost, train them from scratch, and grow them with the business.

As that person was trained, they would gradually replace him bit by bit, freeing him up to finally step into the CEO role.

Phase 3: Maturity (The True CEO)

A mature business is not necessarily a massive corporation like Amazon or General Motors. Even a local shop can be a mature business. Maturity simply means the business is no longer dependent on the owner’s daily presence to survive. Because the owner took the time to hire capable staff, train them, build clear job descriptions, and reliable systems, the business now runs like a well-oiled machine.

The former technician has successfully stepped into the CEO role, giving him the ultimate reward: true freedom and a business that works without him.