Do you own your business or do you work in a business that you own? Read that again.
I once read entrepreneur power house,Tim Ferriss, say that if you can’t leave your business for 6 weeks at a time, return to everything still running smoothly and profiting the same or more, than you do not own a business. Unfortunately, with this criteria, you just work at the business that you happen to own. These two ways of running your business are two totally different species in totally different habitats.
Most small business owners feel they are a far and long shot away from being able to hop on a plane and head to Europe for 6 weeks, while allowing others to keep their businesses running smoothly and efficiently. Allow me be the voice of empowerment to tell you that you, my Business Owning baller, are 100 percent capable of such luxury.
My friends, I was the Queen of not being able to let go of control in my business to let people in and help. I have come a very far way since. Let me take you on a business journey.
I have found that when you are able to let go of control enough to give up one of your current roles to someone else, your business will without a doubt, hit a new milestone.
When you wear all the hats in your business, this will allow about 70% of your best self to fill into every single hat, aka: every single role. When you are spread thin, performing all the roles, these roles are only receiving 70 percent of your best self. Upon hiring a new person, and only allowing them to wear one hat (receptionist, manager, etc) will allow them to give 100% of their best self to that roll.
When I was my own receptionist, I was only 70% the best I could be at being a receptionist. I was spread thin, wearing all the hats, and answering calls for my company came second to all the other roles I was playing simultaneously. I didn’t have enough of myself to give 100% as a receptionist, so I gave enough to get by while still slapping a smile on my face before switching to the next role of the day. Now my hired receptionists have one job, and that is to be the absolute best customer service receptionists they know how to be, and they absolutely blow me out of the water when it comes to receptionist skills.
When I was the general manager of my staff, I was only 70 percent efficient at all the general management skills. It only received a fraction of the attention I needed to give it in order for my staff to soar. When I got passed my mental drama and finally hired a GM, her only hat was GM. She absolutely blew me out of the water at managing our staff, because she is 100% focused on her tasks.
It would be an understatement to say that I finally had a realization regarding the future success of my company and it’s correlation to hiring people to help. From the time I first hired until right now, I went from zero staff to now 30 staff members in total in only 3 years. I got a taste of having help in my company and now I can’t stop, won’t stop.
When all your roles in your company have someone pouring 100% of themselves into it, your company will sky rocket by 100%.
Most business owners are really great at their trade but not necessarily other aspects of the business. A photographer is fantastic at photography. A yoga studio owner is fantastic at yoga. A massage therapist is fantastic at massage. Play to these strengths as the owner of your trade. Why would you mute your superpower to attempt to do the other things while wasting time and at 70% when someone else could do them at 100%? If your super power is photography, then create the space in your life to play to that. Why would you spend time playing receptionist, accountant, book-keeper because while you are slaving away at these tasks, who is growing your business?
WHO. IS. GROWING. YOUR. BUSINESS?
A fear I hear often with my coaching clients is that someone will be hired and not able to do as good of a job as them. It is a common belief that only they can do this job. First of all Robin Hood, let me ask you, how hard really is the job you’re speaking of? How much skill does it actually take? I held onto the receptionist position for WAY too long because I truly believed that only I had these amazing customer service skills and only I would be able to use the correct anatomical verbiage on the phone when explaining injuries to clients. Boy, was I wrong. Looking back now, I want to go back in time and shake me.
You may be surprised that you’re holding onto control of a job that is also easily trainable. Plus, if you have the amazing superpower to do this role so well, wouldn’t you be the top best candidate to train someone to do it exactly as you do. I think sometimes business owners forget that we are 100% in control of who we hire, our standards, our expectations. You will never wake up randomly and realize your outsourced employee is doing an awful job and you can’t do anything about it. You are in control always.
I decided I wanted to work myself out of work, when it comes to the daily tasks at my massage studio. My superpower is business growth and new business ideas. I decided to outsource absolutely everything in my massage business for one reason and one reason only. I wanted to create space so that my super power has its ability to shine fully. I have hired other massage therapists so I do not massage any more. I have hired receptionists and general managers, sheet washers, office cleaners, social media managers, payroll, event coordinators and even someone to be in control of the hardest puzzle of all time, the room chart. I now have the space to decide how and at what angle we will meet our next goal as a company. I have the space to decide when and how we will open our next location. I now have created the time for Massage Strong to create its very own CBD product line. None of this would have happened if I were still answering calls and skimming the surface of the daily tasks and never allowing my mind to work at a deeper level to launch my business even more.
Now it is a running joke between me and my staff, that I will often excitedly drive to Massage Strong, pumped to hang out with the staff and in the studio, and once I arrive I am just in the way. Everyone is buzzing around me doing their awesome part, and I have hired all my parts out. I can be found fumbling my way through the software, creating errors on accident, moving out of peoples’ way, and bumping into things… ultimately deciding to go home. Exactly how I want this business run.
