In 2023, there were 5.5 million new small businesses launched, according to the US Chamber of Commerce. Most of them will fail because the owner cannot escape the trap of the fact that they created a job and not a business. Here are three things they must let go of to begin the transition to a business.
- Stop micromanaging
- Let go of being the smartest person in the room
- Leverage external resources
Most owners take control of everything. And understandably so, in the beginning. No one cares about their business as much as they do. And yet as they begin to grow, I start hearing, “I can’t get it all done.” “Things are falling through the cracks.”
This is when they have to begin to hire people (Employees or contractors). And more importantly, they have to build the processes and systems so they can delegate and start to buy back their time.
When every decision goes through the owner…the owner is the bottleneck.
At some point, the owner needs new perspectives and people who look at the business in different ways than they do. This means they have to hire smart people. And it helps if they are smarter than the owner.
The owner who likes people also needs a peer who likes the numbers and can identify the KPIs that are working or not working. Companies where the leaders are surrounded by “yes” men & women fail. And they fail because there is only one point of view.
Too many owners want to build it themselves. I get it. There is pride in doing the hard things. And at some point, you need someone who understands marketing better than you do to execute on the strategy. You need someone with accounting expertise to bring financial clarity to your organization. What I observe about growing and scaling businesses is that the owners are not afraid to surround themselves with advisors (Attorneys, Accounting professionals, marketing experts, business coaches, etc.)
To quote Marshall Goldsmith, “What got you here won’t get you there.”
