Michael E. Gerber
Most small businesses fail because they are started by technicians who merely bought themselves a stressful job. True freedom comes from architecting a systems-driven enterprise that can run entirely without you.
You must shift your focus from working in your business as an exhausted technician to working on your business as a strategic architect.
Every founder must balance three internal personas: the visionary Entrepreneur who dreams, the pragmatic Manager who creates order, and the present-focused Technician who executes the work.
Design your company as a franchise prototype by engineering processes so simple and consistent that ordinary people can replicate extraordinary results.