Russell Conwell tells a story of how important working ON your business can be. He speaks of the millionaire John Jacob Astor who was the most economically successful of the Astor family. One of his investments included holding the mortgage on a New York millinery store. When the owner could not pay the rent, Astor foreclosed the mortgage, took possession of the store and went into partnership with the man who had failed at the business.

He left the man alone to tend the store and went to sit down on a bench in the park. There he watched the ladies as they walked by him. He noticed one lady with a hat who walked with her head held high, her shoulders back and with a tacit invitation for the world to look at her. He studied all the details he could about the hat – the shape of the frame, the color of the trimmings and more.

John Jacob Astor went into the store and told the man: “Now, put in the window just such a bonnet as I describe to you because I have just seen a lady who likes just such a bonnet.” Astor went back to the bench and observed another confident lady who was wearing a different bonnet. He went back to the store and said to the man: “Now put such a bonnet as that in the show window.”

Astor grew a very successful business working ON the business rather than IN it. Every business has customers and a market to serve. Every owner has a special duty to be certain his/her business is functioning properly. Like the field officer in battle, an owner shouldn’t be at the front lines where he’s caught up in the daily actions. An effective owner is studying the business, developing strategy, motivating the staff and making sure they have what they need to be successful.