By NLOWE
Do the daily operations of your business dominate your time to the point that working on higher level aspects seems overwhelming? Don’t worry; you’re not alone.
When you started your business, you had good intentions and great expectations. Some of you may even have started a business to have more flexibility and time. Now, a few years in, you’re working at all hours of the day (and night) and you are continually reacting to outside demands.
The thought of renewing and driving your company’s vision forward seems impossible. You started the business to become your own boss, a CEO, the visionary of a successful company. How do you get that back? Let’s a take a look at some of your issues.
You do everything.
Delegate. Yes, it’s okay to ask for help. Look seriously at all the responsibilities and tasks that your business requires to operate successfully. Breaking your business into departments can help you find out where you need help the most. It doesn’t necessarily mean hiring a full-time employee. There are many creative and flexible ways to seek out the help you need.
You have control issues.
Let it go. You can’t possibly take your business to the next level without allowing other people to share in the responsibilities of operating your company. It is absolutely pointless to ask for help if you’re going to insist on overseeing every task completed. It’s bad for you and annoying for everyone else.
You are a perfectionist.
Accept evolution. You don’t have a business plan, a marketing plan, or a strategic plan. Why? You think they have to be perfect. They don’t. These are important documents, partly because of the exercise of creating them and the regular addition of new information as your business grows and changes. These documents get you thinking about your company’s future and how you are going to get there. They drive your company’s actions and decisions. Making sure you dot your Is and cross your Ts, is not your role. You can get someone else to do that (see above).
You believe in all or nothing.
Not a bad thing. Normally. In the context of getting things done, say that strategic plan, it is. Break down big projects into smaller tasks as much as you need to, to make the larger project manageable. You do not need to do everything in one day.
You lack a schedule.
Do you often find yourself putting things in your calendar that you are not going to do? Appointments you’re not going to keep? You need to become selective about what goes in your calendar and then stick to what does.
You are terrified of business development.
You must be. You rarely make time for it. You know you need it, but you never start. This is an appointment you need to start making and keeping. Start small: perhaps it’s an hour every second Tuesday. You’ll be amazed the difference that it can make. Remember that point about breaking larger projects down?
Reigniting your business vision doesn’t need to be a burden, and in fact, taking the time now will likely help you find new sources of inspiration when you deal with the issues that get in your way of continued success.
#Throwback This article was originally published April 2013, in the inaugural edition of our magazine, the then titled The NLOWE Advisor. Over the next four editions, we’ll feature one article from a past edition that covers content still valuable today.