Why Doing it Yourself Doesn’t work in Small Business

iStock_000000250015XSmall_Mar 26 2015

As a small business owner, you likely consider yourself to be a self-starter who is willing to work hard. Initially, it felt terrific to have your own business. After all, you are your own boss. No more answering to somebody else. You have received good feedback from your customers. Business is picking up. Yet, something doesn't feel right. Lately, working in your business has not been fun.

You are working weekends and late into the night, just to keep your business afloat. You are doing everything in your business–advertising, bookkeeping, dealing with customers, ordering supplies, etc. You are seeing your business grow, but you dread it getting any bigger because you can't manage the demand now. You are making a common mistake of the small business owner–doing it all yourself.

That's right, being a hard working, self-starter has undermined you! Although you are doing all sorts of tasks yourself to save money, you are spending an incredible amount of time learning to do things that are totally new to you and outside your area of expertise. And, you have run out of time. There simply is not another hour in the day that you can find to do all those unfinished tasks for your business. Your spouse is fed up with your absence around the house. Your children have quit asking you to do things with them because they already know you are “too busy.”

Tragically, many businesses fail or fail to turn sufficient profit, not because the owner did not have a good product or service, but because of poor time management. Many business owners fail to consider that time is a precious, valuable commodity. As a business owner, you must think strategically about your time.

Begin thinking about your time like you think about money. Your time is more valuable than money because you cannot make more of it. Once it is gone, it’s gone.

Is it really the best use of your time to be doing everything in your business?

Delegate, then use your time to think strategically about your business. Develop your vision for your business. What will your business look like in five years? Who is your Ideal Client or Customer? How will you serve their needs better and better?  How will you continue to deliver the same high quality product or service when your customer base has grown from 10 customers to 1,000, or even 10,000 customers?
 
When you are asking those questions of yourself and developing well-thought out answers to those questions, you are investing your time wisely as a business owner.

 SabrinaDr. Sabrina Schleicher recognizes that employee  problems can be one of the biggest stumbling  blocks for any business owner.   With her background in psychology, and years of driving profit in small businesses, Dr. Schleicher knows what it takes to find, keep and get exceptional performance out of your biggest investment-your employees. Access her comprehensive video training 5 Secrets to Exceptional Employee Performance (her gift to you!) at www.tapthepotential.com

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About The Author

Dr. Sabrina Starling, The Business Psychologist and international best-selling author of the How to Hire the Best series and The 4 Week Vacation™, is the founder of Tap the Potential and host of the Profit by Design podcast. At Tap the Potential, we work to free business owners from the constant demands of a growing business.

We believe work supports life, not the other way around. Clients in our Better Business, Better Life coaching program have more time for what matters most and more money in their bank account than they’ve ever had. Next, we send them off on a 4 Week Vacation™ to celebrate their hard-earned journey to take their life back!

Dr. Sabrina and her team at Tap the Potential are on a mission to change the story of entrepreneurship from one of long hours, grinding it out, to one of sustainably profitable businesses that support and enhance life. The Tap the Potential Solution™ and our Tap the Potential Family of Business Owners are disrupting small business as usual. We are on our way to making the Tap the Potential Solution™ the mainstream model for growing business.

By 2023, 150 Tap the Potential clients will have taken 4 Week Vacations. These are the trailblazers, role modeling what’s possible for entrepreneurs. In many entrepreneurial circles, it is becoming more and more common for one entrepreneur to ask another, “Have you taken a 4 Week Vacation™?” (as opposed to asking “How many employees do you have?” or “What is your annual revenue?”). Taking a fully unplugged 4 Week Vacation is rapidly becoming the recognized symbol of entrepreneurial success.

Never one to accept the status quo or back down from a challenge, Dr. Sabrina’s How to Hire the Best series grew from her desire to solve the toughest hiring challenges interfering with her clients’ growth and profitability. What sprang from her experience working with entrepreneurs in rural areas catapulted her into becoming the world’s leading expert in attracting top talent in small businesses—no matter what hiring challenges those businesses are facing—and earned Tap the Potential’s reputation as the go-to resource for entrepreneurs committed to creating Great Places to Work with thriving coaching cultures and highly engaged team members working from strengths.

As The Business Psychologist, and with her years of driving profit in small businesses, Dr. Sabrina knows what it takes to find, keep, and motivate exceptional performance out of your biggest investment—team members.