"If you want a job doing properly, you have to do it yourself". I'm here to smash that myth into pieces and encourage you to let go of any control freakery you're nurturing and allow your business to expand. I'm going to run a mini-series of blogs with some simple steps of how you can do this, starting with this one: Mindset.
It's very common for people who run their own companies to struggle with handing any roles in the process over to anyone else. This is for a variety of reasons: they might feel they don't have the time to invest in training someone, it's hard to find the right person, they're worried about the extra costs and workload of sorting employment paperwork out or they like the flexibility offered by flying solo. Yet I would say that the most common reason is feeling that no one else can do the job as well as them, or couldn't be trusted. Often this comes from bad past experiences with co-workers or former employees.
But if a business is to expand and you're going to make more money and become more efficient, then Letting it Go is absolutely essential. Otherwise you haven't created a business, you've just given yourself a really intense job that you can never escape from. A business needs to exist separately from you. Fair enough if you want to just have a really intense job you can't escape from - that's a totally valid choice, as long as you're happy with it - however a lot of people end up shutting up shop eventually as it all becomes too much.
If your business is going well, you will attract more customers, and if you can't take on a higher workload, eventually you'll just end up saying "no" to a very high percentage of these enquiries, which puts people off and could end up damaging the business in the long run.
You are not indispensable. You are a human being with a set of skills and talents. There are many other human beings out there with a slightly different set of skills and talents, who will complement you perfectly in your business. What they don't know, they can often learn, as long as their attitude is right.
One of the best things about letting go is that you don't have to do all the jobs you find boring or difficult. Nobody loves EVERYTHING about running a business. I am not a massive fan of doing 12 loads of washing up a day or submitting my tax returns. I pay other people to do lots of the things I don't like. Start thinking of delegating as something to embrace and enjoy, not to fear. You can get the focus back on your creative side and all the bits of the business you love and thrive on. One woman's drudgery is another woman's passion. It's just a case of finding who.
Having co-workers means much less threat to your personal finances from illness or other setbacks life may throw at you. If you get poorly, break your arm, or simply need to cover more childcare or have other commitments that mean you can't dedicate any more hours to the business, it means you have backup. The work can continue and the profits still come in and it's not all on you.
This may seem completely overwhelming and you might not know where to start, so in my next blog I'll be covering just that: how to start letting go. In the meantime, I'd love to know your thoughts: do you worry about letting go? Do you want to employ staff but feel concerned about aspects of it? Let me know in the comments!
www.threelittlebirdsbakery.co.uk
I think that is very sane. The bane of personal perfection and determination to do it all yourself because - sub-text - only you can do it correctly, is pernicious. If I could wind back the clock, I would remember that and make my life a good deal easier. BTW I really like washing up.