One of the most difficult lessons I have had to learn as a small business owner is to resist the urge to do everything myself, especially if I am not good at it. I have learned this lesson the hard way, and it is the temptation of every entrepreneur to try to do it all, but that is a recipe for mediocrity at best, if not total failure.
The reality is that while I love to learn new things, and I want to understand everything, and I will try to do everything, I am just not good at everything. In fact there are a lot of things that other people are much better at doing than I am. That is why the most important lesson you can learn as a business owner is to play to your strengths and leverage the strengths of others!
There are times when cash flow (or the lack there of) forces a founder to do things they don’t enjoy doing, or are not really good at doing. I have been in that position many times so I know how easy it is to just do it rather than to out source it. But ultimately those are the tasks that first need to be delegated or subcontracted. Being aware of this tendency requires constant vigilance. You have to pay attention to the task creep, recognize when you are moving out of your area of expertise, and just stop trying to do it all. Ultimately that means that it stops getting done, or you hire someone else to do it.
How to make this shift? First, know your strengths and your weaknesses. Don’t fall into the “I can do it better/faster” trap. As humans we tend to always think we can do it better or faster, when the truth is we often can’t and we usually shouldn’t. But if you don’t really know your strengths, your areas of brilliance, and can honestly acknowledge your shortcomings you will inevitably fall victim to your own ignorance. Take the time to do an honest assessment of your skills and what is missing for your business’s success. Ask other people you trust to give you honest feedback so that you avoid being blindsided.
Once you know your strengths, then you can leverage what you excel at doing to build a successful business you love to work in.Then hire people to do the things that you are not good at or are not passionate about. You might be a bit cash poor in the short run, but you will be rich in skills and collaborators, the very things a business needs to grow to be strong and sustainable. Focus your energy on improving what you are good at until you are great at it.
For example, I really do not enjoy marketing, especially social media marketing. I am not bad at it, but I am not great at it either. It is one of those things that I can do if I have to, but would rather not do. So it is something that I often outsource. There are people who work for me who are much better at many of the facets of operations than I am, so I empower them to play to their strengths and excel at what they do.
If all this feels a little overwhelming, and you would like help gaining clarity about how to leverage your strengths and build a business that makes the most out of your team’s skill sets, schedule a free consultation with me and we can work on identifying your path to success.