What would happen if you were hit by a bus tomorrow?

What would happen if you were hit by a bus tomorrow? Most entrepreneurs nod, smile, and move on, confident it won’t happen. And usually, they’re right - you show up, work your hours, and the business keeps ticking.

But here’s the truth: that confidence is a trap.

When you’re the single point of knowledge, the hub for every client interaction, and the default decision-maker, you’re the bottleneck. Life under the entrepreneurial ceiling is relentless. There’s no time to think, no space to innovate, no chance to do things differently. You’re stuck reacting to the day-to-day and slowly burning out.

Greg McKeown, in Essentialism, puts it well: when we’re stretched thin, our efforts diffuse. “The way of the Essentialist means living by design, not by default. Essentialism is a disciplined, systematic approach for determining where our highest point of contribution lies, then making execution of those things almost effortless.”

Most entrepreneurs at full capacity don’t look effortless, they look frantic. Red-lining day after day is unsustainable. And the danger creeps in quietly. Your business is growing, clients love you, and everything seems perfect. Then suddenly, staff leave, supply chains fail, and customers desert. The business becomes overwhelming, chaotic and dependent on a single point of failure.

This is the reality: loving your clients, loving your work, and being reactive is not enough. Your business needs leverage. Concentrate your energy where it matters most - what only you can do - and build systems, teams, and processes to make the rest unstoppable. If you don’t, you risk creating a business which is dependent and unsustainable in the event something goes wrong.

Looking for more inspiration?

Discover Business by Design- Take Your Business from Chaos and Overwhelm to Scalable and Rewarding. Is your business all consuming, not leaving you with the time to enjoy the things that really matter?