** ** A true story about why you don’t hand your car keys to someone who doesn’t know the route.**
In business, there’s a fantasy we all secretly hold:
“One day, I’ll hand over the business to someone else… and just focus on strategy.”
It sounds sweet. You build the systems. Hire a strong team. Then step back like a true boss. Work from home. Sip coffee. Make big deals. Let someone else handle the chaos.
In 2022, I tried it.
I handed over the driver’s seat to one of my senior guys. He had experience. He’d been with me for years. He seemed sharp enough. So I gave him everything:
✅ My office ✅ My car ✅ My authority ✅ My trust
I even set up a home office, thinking I’d become one of those “visionary entrepreneurs” who works from a laptop while smelling roses.
For the first week, everything seemed fine. I’d pop into the boardroom in the morning, act important, then disappear by 2 PM to do my “real work.”
Then the calls started.
Not just any calls—complaints.
At first, I brushed them off. But by the end of the month, I was drowning in problems:
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Clients were angry.
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Systems were down.
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Deadlines were missed.
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Morale had collapsed.
I rushed back to the office.
What I found nearly gave me a stroke.
The virtual PABX system I’d spent thousands installing? Shelved.****
The VoIP line, our lifeline to clients? Disconnected.****
Why?
Because of a $30 unpaid bill.****
Yes, you read that right: thirty U.S. dollars.****
We didn’t miss it because we were broke. We missed it because… no one cared.****
But wait. It gets better.
The reception phone wasn’t broken. It was just… unplugged.****
Nobody thought to plug it back in. For two months, we were unreachable.
The company vehicles? Not moving. Just parked, dead and dusty.
Why?
No one followed up on minor repairs. So deliveries stopped. Staff gave up. Business slowed down.
Staff started arriving 30 minutes late every day. Not one or two… but multiple employees. People who knew better.
We start work at 7:00 AM. But in my absence, 7 AM became “somewhere between now and tea time.”
The culture was decaying—and I had enabled it.
And then it hit me:
I didn’t hand over my company to a manager… I handed it over to someone I hadn’t prepared.
What Went Wrong?****
It wasn’t the guy I left in charge. It was me.
I didn’t train him. I didn’t guide him. I just assumed, “He’s been here long enough, he’ll figure it out.”
But business leadership doesn’t work like that.
You don’t give someone the keys to a bus and say,
“Drive to Johannesburg. GPS is off. I’ll see you at the finish line.”
The Truth About Handover****
A smooth transition takes time, structure, and supervision.
You don’t just dump your company into someone’s lap and expect magic. You mentor. You monitor. You lead from behind before you disappear.
Otherwise, the very systems you’ve built will be ignored—or worse, destroyed by neglect.
I had to rebuild everything from scratch.
�� Reactivate systems �� Plug in phones �� Fix vehicles �� Reconnect with clients �� Reinforce work culture
And yes, I paid that $30 bill with a side-eye and a heavy heart.
What Did I Learn?****
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Never leave the driver’s seat without training the next driver.** ** Your business is not Uber. No one’s driving it better than you—unless they’ve been trained to.
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Systems are useless if no one respects them.** ** Even the best PABX system means nothing if someone unplugs the phone.
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Culture will collapse without leadership.** ** When you’re away, people follow your absence, not your instructions.
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$30 can cost you a $30,000 client.** ** Small negligence kills big vision.
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Autopilot only works in planes—not in entrepreneurship.** ** Unless your name is Boeing, stay awake.
Don’t be too quick to hand over your company just because you’re tired. Yes, build systems. Yes, train leaders. Yes, take breaks. But never assume the business will run like clockwork without your intentional leadership.****
