From chaotic and exhausted to routine and growth…
I want to share a story about a business owner who was consistently feeling behind the eight ball…Always feeling 2 steps behind each week.
She was growing but everything was chaotic and she was exhausted.
She was struggling to deliver her services to her clients and grow her business - She was engaged in most of the business development, dealt with many of the clients and was the primary contact for any customer service issue.
She was onboarding a new team member yet because she was still a small business of only six, she was still wearing many hats each day.
Then, after working together, she was able to turn things around.
How?
The reason you're exhausted from your business isn't the reason you think....
Maybe the reason your business is wearing you out isn’t necessarily because you’re burning the candle at both ends, or worried about making your bills, or because of another late order arriving.
While these are all worrisome and tiring, these could be symptoms of a deeper issue.
It could be due to a lack of capacity and diversity in one or all of three key areas: employees, suppliers, and/or customers.
How dependent you and your business is on any one employee, customer, or supplier can be a real indicator of business health, how high your business risk is, and how you, as the owner, are shouldering the effects of this directly. And, if that one employee is YOU, well that would be a signal of a lack of capacity or diversification of employees and skills sets.
I was recently speaking with a business owner who is dependent on one employee (themselves!) who tried to hire another employee recently.
They said ‘it didn’t work out’ and ‘it wasn’t a good fit’. And, they doubted that there would be a good employee out there that could do what they’re looking for.
I probed a little more and it became clear that they really didn’t believe another person could do what they could do and could serve the clients the same way they could.
I have heard variations on this theme from a number of business owners.
So what’s the answer?
Take a look at the three areas I mentioned and see how your business fares in these areas.