As a business owner you can be consumed by the daily running of your business and management of your team, be blinded by and miss what is and isn’t relevant or become dependent on gurus and advisors.

Even worse your relationship with your business can go from one of love and infatuation to being dysfunctional.  Like a dysfunctional personal relationship your relationship with your business can colour everything – it can dominate your mind, takes over your time and attention, age your body, negatively impact your health, and rob you of joy, wonder and fulfillment in life.

In that way business problems are mirror relationship and health problems, they can consume a person and limit potential.

Apply Maslow’s Hierarchy to You and Your Business

You might vaguely remember your psychology teacher talking about Maslow ‘s Hierarchy of Needs. That triangle means more than you perhaps recall.

Many SME owners are in perpetual discomfort, with neither their physiological or safety needs fully met.  They aren’t profitable enough consistently enough to sustain their basic needs and keep both them and their family “safe”.  Yet they never really calculate what this value would be and even once it has been achieved, they continue chasing more money, risking the safety layer and trying to buy their happiness or freedom without taking the time to question where they are going and for what purpose.

They think if they just chase that extra dollar, they can fill the emptiness. But what if that emptiness can only be filled by spending time with loved ones?  Relationships require quality time, eating a meal together, playing a board game or taking the kids swimming.

The impact of dysfunctional relationships colours everything – it dominates your mind, takes over your time and attention, ages your body, negatively impacts your health, and robs you of joy, wonder and fulfillment.

You may have financials and relationships covered and being paid handsomely by your business YET being owner of a business that offers no growth or recognition isn’t likely to satisfy you for long either, esteem needs to come from home AND work.

At the base of Maslow’s pyramid is your most basic needs.  Air, water, food, shelter, sleep, health, and more.  If you are missing any of these items for long, nothing else will matter until you can get it back.

There is a need for a common foundation in the assessment, diagnosis, treatment of SME’s and their owners to ensure optimisation of potential. 

What does your pyramid look like?

What income do you need?

How much time do you need?

Where are you stuck and why?

What are you going to do about it?

The purpose of The Markland Method is to enable healthcare business owners to become industry leaders, free up their time for thinking and innovation and helping them and their teams increase the contribution they make.