What made you great can be the one thing that is stopping you from getting to the next level.
At the beginning of any business the venture is like a newborn baby, needing your constant care, supervision and corrections. The mistake many operators make is to get stuck in the mentality of being the only one who can do what they do. The micromanaging that is not only needed but necessary to the survival of a newborn business can act as a trap that limits your ability to grow your company. It is vital to the healthy development of your business to learn to change your mindset to that of an owner, not an operator. Work ON the business, not IN the business. You can still be IN the business, but make sure you have someone with you at all times who you are connecting with, training, and developing into a leader.
We operated our business for over 12 years without a manager. You could say that James and I were the managers, but if I am totally honest with myself, we were ill equipped. We had the advantage of having the heart and the immense desire to succeed that thankfully carried us along to creating a successful business. But in those early years it was really grace that made it happen. As we progressed along and grew from a newborn business into toddler then teenagers, we were really like out of control 15 year olds, trying anything and everything without looking at any downside. I was the most guilty of the “do it all myself” mindset, and I remember night after night of waking up at 2 am with a start remembering that I had forgotten to order produce the day before. I would pick up the phone and rattle off from memory our order for that day, lettuce, tomatoes, avocado..
It’s not that we didn’t have help, we had amazing people working for us that were absolutely willing to do anything we asked, it was just my thought system that I had to do it myself. I thought it was too much to ask of someone else, I thought it was my job as the owner, I thought if I gave away my tasks what would I do? I thrived on being busy. Getting away from the business was so difficult, and when James would eventually drag me away for a much needed weekend off, it would take me hours to decompress and let go of the self created stress and worry. I would tell him “Its easy for you, your job gets done while you are away, mine just stacks and waits for me!” He would tell me, “Why don’t you just train someone to do it for you?” which would just push me further into my corner. He didn’t understand.
I can’t pinpoint the exact moment when I began to think differently, but I think it began by listening to other voices. Why didn’t I listen to my husband, my business partner, the man I trusted? Not sure, but it was a conversation with another business owner that I think was the catalyst to the beginning of letting go. This mentor was a restaurant owner with 4 locations, at a time when I had only 1. Her path was similar to mine, and her story of burning herself out in her first location hit a nerve inside me. Like me, she had put her whole self into the business, working by day in the location, and by night working on the books and marketing and all of the thousands of other moving parts in any business. I think she knew a little more than I did about leadership, or maybe I am just a slow learner, because it didn’t take her long to realize what I was just beginning to see.
If you spend all your time working IN your business, who is working ON your business? The difference in that one letter in those little words is the difference between management and leadership. Between stress and fulfillment. Between chaos and growth. It meant letting go of the need to do it all and to truly believe that there is someone who can not only do it as good as you do but most likely better. I began training and delegating, and working on myself and the direction of my organization. The rest is history and is still happening.
What are you doing that can be done with 80% effectiveness by someone else?