Sue started her own business 3 years ago. She is really pursuing her passion, and loves working with her clients. She considers her business as pretty successful. She is free to make her own decisions, and her income is reasonably steady. But over the past few months she has noticed that she is not so eager to start her work day. Somehow it’s harder to get up in the mornings, and to get things done. She cannot think why she feels this way. It’s as though even though she is putting in more hours, something is holding her back. Something is blocking her creativity and drive. And eventually the pleasure of running her own business is waning.
Why does Sue feel this way? The answer is quite simple.
Sue is trying to run her business without any support. She does everything associated with running the business herself. She answers phones, does her own bookkeeping, tries to keep up with orders, does her own admin, developed and maintains her own website, etc. Sue is a very talented individual, and no doubt can do all of the administration associated with her business excellently. But it leaves her no time to do what she loves: interacting with her clients, and thinking about new business ideas.
When you insist on doing everything in your business yourself, you are doing yourself and your business a disservice. Here are some reasons why:
1. You tend to procrastinate tasks you don’t enjoy doing
Some tasks you don’t enjoy doing are very essential to the survival of your business. When you procrastinate on those tasks, your business suffers in the long term.
You will be happier and more productive if you did only those tasks you are competent at and love doing.
2. You lose money
Why spend your valuable time and energy on tasks you struggle with? Instead of spending hours figuring out how to do certain things, like building a website or designing a logo for instance, you could have paid someone else to do it while you were increasing you income with tasks you excel at.
3. You lose your focus and creativity
When there are so many details in your business to take care of, it is easy to focus on these details and forget the big picture. You no longer have the time to take a break and see the big picture, part of why you enjoy having your own business.
4. Your “I-can-do-it-myself” attitude robs you of the expertise you could have access to
Yes, you may be able to do lot of things alone. You may have issues with trusting people to become part of your business. But in the end, while you are spending time doing all the things you feel you can, you are neglecting your core business strengths.
Nobody is an expert at all aspects of running their business. Why not partner with someone who runs certain aspects with more expertise than you do?
There are plenty highly trained professionals that work online. People who can do your website development, bookkeeping, SEO, social media, article writing, etc. If you are in doubt on how to choose the right people, you can read my blog post 6 Steps to Find the Best Online Workers.
5. You forget why you started your own business
People often go into business for themselves because they want to achieve a better work-life balance. Yet it is so easy to fall into the trap of being overworked, rushed, and stressed.
Would you not rather want to have the peace of mind that accompanies having competent people helping you grow your business?
About 56% of new businesses do not survive for at least 4 years. Many entrepreneurs that survive, work 60+ hour work weeks and cannot take time off, because if they are not working, they have no income.
Successful entrepreneurs outsource so that their business can grow and thrive.
When you outsource work, you start enjoying your business again, because you will remember why you started it in the first place.
Your success and freedom as a small business owner depends on your ability to focus on what you love and do best, and to eliminate or outsource everything else.
Ask yourself: What would it be like to be a successful business owner? What are the first steps I need to take?
Do you know what a wonderful feeling of freedom you have when your business runs like clockwork without you having to micromanage everything? This feeling could be yours within a month.
Contact Virtual Productivity Solutions and find out how we can help take the everyday burden of running your business off you and help you become more successful.