Many new business owners initially look to run their own show so they can take a break from working for other people.
It is liberating to be a solopreneur and to work on your own, however, there is only so far you can go. When you work alone, the hours you can spend at your desk each week are finite, which limits how much you can earn. Award-winning Technology Entrepreneur, International speaker and Author of 16 books, Dale Beaumont shares how to win at business you need to play a long game. These two thought patterns are not allowed.
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I’ve worked with thousands of business owners over the years, most of whom are looking to take that next step and ramp up their turnover. Many who are a long way from achieving their true potential are allowing one of two mindsets to hold them back.
These are the two statements I hate hearing from business owners:
1. It’s faster if I do it myself
In the early days of being a business owner, you are hyper-aware of the needs of your business. You’re doing a juggling act and looking after accounts, marketing, sales, forecasting and customer service.
I understand why it can be easy to feel as though outsourcing is too much effort when you’re the only person who has the detailed knowledge of how your business operates.
The truth is, it may be faster if you do something like write out a content marketing schedule for your business rather than delegating the task to someone else. However, how many other things do you have on your to-do list? By spending time on your marketing strategy, you could be losing an opportunity to make a sale or build a new partnership.
What’s more, the reason you are quick to complete tasks is that you know them inside and out. If you hand a job over to someone else, they may struggle to do it right the first time but once they have the right training they’ll get faster and more competent.
If you’re doing everything in your business yourself, you’re missing out on the potential for rapid expansion. The sooner you can bring on a team (they don’t all have to be full-time employees to begin with), the sooner you will be able to expand on what you can offer your customers.
Another question to ask yourself if you are stuck believing things get done faster when you do them on your own is, “How long could my business run for without me?” If the answer is not even one day, it’s time to implement systems and processes and begin building a team.
By establishing a business that can run without you, you are creating more opportunities for growth and also for some much deserved time off!
2. Nobody can do it as good as I can
Have you said this to yourself before? It is a statement I commonly hear from business owners.
A true leader empowers his staff rather than holding them back. If you are convinced the only capable person is you, you’re destined to have a very small business.
Business mogul Richard Branson is an advocate of outsourcing. He is happy to hand responsibility to more qualified people and focus on promoting his ventures (and spending time on his private island).
Again, if you want to grow, to help more people and to serve more customers, you have to learn to let it go. Put your ego to one side and accept that you are not the only talented person on this planet. Instead of assuming you’re the best, look for people who are better than you at certain elements of your business and allow them to shine.
If this is too much to begin with, allocate 80-90 percent of a task to someone else and then take the time to review it with them. You never know, you may learn something!
Imagine if Mark Zuckerberg, Steve Jobs or Arianna Huffington decided to go things alone. There’s no doubt the names Facebook, Apple and The Huffington Post would never cross our lips!
The above two mindsets are holding you back from becoming a bonafide operation which can grow and adapt to the changing business environment. Extract them from your brain and replace them with new ideas. Learn to accept support and surround yourself with amazing people. Who knows how far you’ll go?
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