Business Owner’s Dilemma: Getting Out of Your Own Way
As a small business owner, I’ve had to swallow the bitter pill. I’ve had to – get this – accept the fact that I can’t do it all.
Better yet, I’ve accepted that there are people in the world that I can hire that do certain things WAAAAAYYYY better than I do. And better still. I can find people that do the things I hate doing much better than I do and they actually enjoy doing it.
Go figure.
I’ve used this knowledge in the last few months to launch two major efforts here at Larry Jacob Internet Group. These two things are already drastically increasing my ability to deliver quickly to my clients and deliver with the highest levels of quality.
I am an engineer by training. I’ve been developing software longer than I care to say. I’m also creative. I know how to make use of the Internet to promote and market businesses. I’m good at coaching and helping people think “big picture” by applying my experience working in both corporate and small business environment. I can apply this to help business owners find opportunities to effectively harness the power of the web.
Now just because I’m good at tinkering with technology doesn’t mean I should be delivering a large portion of the technology we develop for my clients.
I really good at coming up with creative solutions that take advantage of technology to address a specific needs. Many times I’ve figured out how to do this finding a huge advantage or cost savings for my customers. I frequently figure out things 0thers would have missed for lack of experience, knowledge, insight, etc.
However, once I help define a solution (and here I’m playing on my strength), I need to get out of the way. I’m just not the best person to build the solution.
First of all, there isn’t enough of me to go around. Second, I can and have found people that do this stuff better than I do. And given the pace at which I run my business, it’s so hard to carve out the time needed to deliver what my clients need at the level of quality and attention to detail that's required.
So instead of gritting my teeth and forcing myself to configure and program and re-configure, etc., I hired someone to do that. It required that I document my best practices. These are basically what enables me to do what I’ve done to date. (Recording lessons with Jing and / or Camtasia is the way to go here. Training videos are up in no time.) I’ve set the standard I need my team members to keep and now I focus on reviewing that work gets done to the standard.
Making this change made use of another one of my strengths. I’m good at teaching. I’ve spent many a semester teaching computer science, web development and writing for online media. I really enjoy passing along my knowledge to others. I enjoy the learning I get out teaching because you really don't know something well until you've taught it to others.
So I’ve combined two of my strengths to increase the capability of my business and at the same time – have a little more fun. (I really do need to lighten up.)
You may be taking on similar things in your business. They are things that just don’t play to your strengths. That brings me to the second major effort I’ve launched here at Larry Jacob Internet Group. (There had to be a pitch in here somewhere, right?)
Are you the best person to be developing web pages, Infusionsoft web forms for collecting contact emails or collecting/collating the stats these systems generate so you can take action on them?
If you are, then have at it. If NOT, I’ve got an option for you.
I’m offering some solid Infusionsoft / WordPress virtual assistant services. These are delivered by my team of expert who know this stuff cold and know how to do it efficiently. Should you really be spending hours building a squeeze page in something like OptimizePress when you can have one of these folks do it in no time flat? Not only do you get a better solution, but it’s downright less expensive when you consider how much your own time is really worth.
So give us a call and get out of your own way. I'm sure you'll be glad you did.
Hope this helps.