We got a Google review recently that read: “Fantastic range and advice from a well-run company that makes you feel special. Worth every penny to get a pair of two of designer glasses.”

The fact that this customer called us ‘a well-run company’ warmed my heart. Most Google reviews rightly focus on the front-line team who do an amazing job serving our clients and building bonds and relationships with each individual customer. This lady was astute enough to realise that the only way to consistently deliver five-star service is as much about being a well-run company behind the scenes as it is about having passionate front-line staff.

I’m not saying this to pat myself on the back, although I’m considering framing the review and requesting my gravestone be engraved with ‘loving husband, father and director of a well-run company.’ (Perhaps I’m starved of praise if it has this effect on me?) The point I want to highlight today is that our only hope of achieving anything remarkable, in our practices, and doing it consistently, is by being a well-run company.

Whatever lasting success you achieve in your business is done not through your own superstar effort, but through what you can achieve together as a company of people.

Don’t fall into the trap of thinking being a well-run company is about perfection. Get rid of the idea that anything will ever be perfect. Perfection is nothing but a bullshit excuse that stops most people from persisting at giving their best, being willing to learn, and constantly improving.

The culture at Jones And Co. and I believe at any extremely successful business is entrepreneurial more than anything else. There is always lots going on. There is a constant stream of issues that need solved. There are failed experiments and frustrating mistakes. It can feel chaotic at times. But look deeper and you’ll find well run companies have a few core values that drive every decision and bring structure to the seeming chaos.

There are clear priorities and goals and an acceptance of the fact that you can’t attempt do everything at once. There are strong systems and routines that run everything in the business. There is clarity around what needs to happen every day, what needs to happen every week, and what needs to happen every month. And there is disciplined effort in maintaining the fundamental systems to make sure they are working and re-calibrating as quickly as possible when things start to slip (which they do all the time).

My favourite definition of ‘entrepreneur’ is “a person who organises and manages a business, usually with considerable initiative and risk.” Organise is the operative word. Working ‘on’ the business essentially means dedicating time to be the organiser of your business. And the most important thing to organise is your people. By supporting and guiding and challenging and believing in your team and helping them meet their psychological needs through their work, together you can do wonderful things.