To avoid burnout, owners must diagnose their businesses, much like diagnosing cars, to pinpoint problem areas that are keeping them from experiencing a better business and - in the end - a better life.

Let me share a concept with you that was developed because many shop owners today are feeling burnt-out and frustrated. They've traded the tyranny of a job and a boss for the tyranny of business ownership and an even worse boss - themselves. In the end, they lose their passion for their business and, ultimately, their passion for life.

Why is this article important? Because life is too short, and death is too long. It's time we all start looking for ways to make better choices about how we spend the time we have on this earth to make a better life for ourselves and our loved ones.

Have you ever noticed how most shop owners seem to take pride in such statements as, "I've been putting in 60 to 70 hours a week for years" or "I haven't taken a day off for umpteen years; if I ever left this place, the wheels would fall off."

I've heard these types of comments for more than 25 years. Frankly, I figured most of these guys were just jockeying for some perverted form of bragging rights. But in my consulting practice, as I weave in and out of different shops around the country, I've discovered that this is actually the way most shop owners live. In fact, I was amazed at how many shops close down so the owner and all the employees can take vacation at the same time. This way, the owner doesn't have to worry about things getting screwed up if he takes time off while the shop is open. The end result is that many shop owners lose their passion for their businesses. They become frustrated and eventually burn out. They are no longer moving toward their original dream. They have become so busy making a living that they forget to make a life. This is often because they are so caught up in the day-to-day crises of their businesses that their businesses are actually running them instead of serving them.

Stephen Covey wrote a book titled "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People." In this book, he says, "Highly effective people don't do things differently; they actually do different things." They don't work harder, longer or faster than less effective people, but that they actually focus on and do different things that lead to greater effectiveness.

I know that most of you have heard that "you need to work on your business instead of working in your business." But, what does that really mean? Most of us know how to work on a car, but what is "working on a business?"

Hopefully, this article will help you better understand one approach for working on your business. Perhaps with some commitment and practice, you can learn how to identify and work on key aspects of your business so it will begin serving you instead of enslaving you.

To keep things in line with the way most of us think, I am going to share an approach with you for working on your business in a similar way that you might approach working on a car.

Why do you think you need to work on your business in the first place? Here is a list to help you get started in your thinking. If you find something on this list that you need to work on, great. But I encourage you to come up with your own list.

• Your business is broke (or heading in that direction) and losing money rapidly.
• You want to improve service quality and make things better for your employees, your customers and yourself.
• You want to improve performance and make things more productive and profitable.
• You want to improve your quality of life by either taking more time off or schedule a vacation without having to close the entire shop down.
• You want to get ready to sell your business and need to build value so you can get top dollar.
• You want to do preventive maintenance; things are OK, but you want to make sure they stay that way.

I suggest that you pick one - or if you're real aggressive - two things to work on at a time. Once you've mastered the techniques described in this article, you will be more proficient and ready to tackle a few more things.

Once you've decided what you want to work on, it's time to diagnose the problem. That is, you need to answer some questions so you can be sure you're fixing the right problem, for the right reason and in the right way. We've all had that sinking feeling of fixing the wrong problem with a customer's car because we blew the diagnosis. All too often, business owners become frustrated with their efforts in trying to make things better because they are working on the wrong problems.

The following exercise will help you diagnose, as well as develop, a strategy for solving most business problems. You need to think about each of the following questions specifically as they relate to your business problem(s). You also need to take time away from your business to do this process and write down your thoughts and ideas. Let's get started:

1. 1. Where are you now? Really be honest with yourself on this one. Sometimes it isn't a pretty picture. Ask for help with this question from people outside your business, too.
2. 2. How did you get here? That is, what is the history that got you or your business to this point? What were the circumstances, processes and assumptions? It is usually a combination of many factors so be sure to consider them all. Often, it boils down to the statement, "We've just always done it this way."
3. 3. Where do you want to be? That is, what is the desired result you're wanting to achieve? How would things be, look or feel if the problem(s) were absent? If you can't answer this question, you will never know when or if you've solved the problem(s).
4. 4. Why do you think you want to go there? That is, what is your real motivation for wanting to fix the problem(s)? Is it that you heard it or read it somewhere? In other words, it's somebody else's idea of how things should be. If this is the case, you probably won't be very committed to doing the things necessary to succeed.
5. 5. How are you going to get there with confidence? This is the key question because it holds the key to your solution. That key is to develop the skill to innovate. You need to learn how to release your creative ability to develop strategies to correct the problem(s) that are standing between you and your desired results. Albert Einstein once observed, "The same level of thinking that created the problem is never sufficient for solving the problem."

Now it's time to move on to the actual work of fixing the problem(s). This is the implementation phase. Here is a checklist to help you through this phase:

1. What needs to be done? Be specific, and list the actual steps as though you were writing down instructions for doing a job on a car. Think through the entire process, and write down the various steps in order.
2. Who will do which steps? This is key. If you see yourself doing all the steps, you are only going to create more work for yourself. This is where you effectively delegate the various steps to your most qualified employee(s). This way, they will be a part of the solution and will feel a greater sense of involvement.
3. What resources will you need? You may need money, supplies, equipment, time, and - for sure - human resources.
4. When will each step be done? Without a timeline, it will most likely never get off paper. This is the difference between a dream and a goal; a goal has a deadline.
5. How will you measure quality and results? You need to build in some checkpoints at which you will measure the results against certain benchmarks to make sure you're moving in the right direction. Most solutions to business problems come over time and are a progression of one accomplishment on top of another.
6. What is the most important thing you need to work on with your business? Is it the physical structure, your customers, your employees or even you? My experience tells me that the best place to start is with you. Once you've worked through a personal effectiveness strategy, the next most important step is your employees. Unless they're committed and happy, they will not effectively and willingly participate in your future plans for improvement. If you want great results, you need a great team. Often by taking care of these two key elements of your business, many, if not most, of the other problems go away, too.

The keys to freedom allow you to develop a blueprint of what to do and how to do it with respect to implementing effective change in your business to enjoy a better life. It demonstrates a process for working on your business rather than working in your business. It breaks the concepts down into simple, bite-sized steps that will help you get started. It isn't the total answer, but as you begin to get some positive results, you will hopefully seek more training on management-related topics. I hope this will inspire you to participate in more of the AMI training courses and programs.

Editor's note: This article is one of several management articles that will be contributed to AutoInc. this year by Automotive Management Institute (AMI) instructors. To learn more about AMI, its courses and instructors, visit www.AMIonline.org. Thom Tschetter has owned and operated automotive repair centers for more than 25 years and through his company, ProfitBoost, LLC, he dedicates hundreds of hours each year to sharing his experience and business knowledge with shop owners throughout North America. He is a member of the Automotive Management Institute (AMI) faculty and offers a wide variety of courses. For more information about this or any other business management topic, you can contact Tschetter by phone at (360) 815-2055 or through his company Web site, www.profitboost.com. ProfitBoost, LLC is a consulting, training and shop management software company with only one goal ... boosting your profits.

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