Have you ever heard the saying the only thing in the way of your growth is yourself? As entrepreneurs, we often become the core lifeblood of our business. It's our passion, our vision, our strengths and our motivation that gets us...and keeps us...successful.
So, then what the heck do you do when you get really big? I mean when your business finally takes off, you start making consistent six and seven figures...and you realize...there is no way you can continue to be the only lifeblood of the business?
Even if you hire a great team, put in a ton of systems and outsource everything that is not your core strength, you can't get away from the fact that THIS IS YOUR BABY! It's up to you to make it happen. I mean who will ever be more committed to your business being successful than you, right?
But unfortunately it's that thinking that is keeping you smaller than you should be. If you are the only one that can make your business bigger and better then...
You have become the bottleneck to your massive growth!
It's really important that you get this. The perfectly good strategies you used to get you to your current level of success will not work to get you to the next level of success. Here are three examples of entrepreneurs just like you who found this to be true for their business:
High Quality in High Demand
You provide a much-needed service to your clients. They like you, trust you and rely on you. Now you want to grow and outsource many of the key tasks and roles to your team of subcontractors (or employees) but your clients push back. Nope, they want you! They continue to work directly with you or require you as the lead on the project and you are stuck. You are the bottleneck.
The Superstar
You have a passion and/or strength for the service you offer. You mistakenly believe that getting down in the trenches every day is essential to train your team and build the trust of your clients. You personally take every customer service call that comes in - who else can better serve your clients, right? Every sales opportunity you handle personally - who else can sell your services better than you? You do such an excellent job that you generate tons of leads. But you are so "in the trenches" you can't pull up long enough to handle them. Now you are at a growth impasse - you can't manage it all if you want to grow.
The Fast Paced Visionary
You see exactly where you need to go with your business. You see what needs to happen every step of the way. When you meet with your team you rattle off ideas, opportunities and tasks faster than a speeding bullet. The problem is...your team can't keep up. Somehow your ideas get lost in translation. What is so obvious to you isn't obvious to them. Your great ideas never quite get implemented fast enough so you feel that you are missing the boat (or they are just so slow they couldn't possibly be right for your team.) You spend countless hours frustrated with the pace at which they are getting things done and at some point you just give up and start doing things yourself.
Any of this sound familiar?
These are all seemingly harmless ways in which we have the illusion we are doing the right thing to grow but what is really happening is we are stifling good strategies because we don't know how to execute them properly. The "how to be a mega-empire builder handbook" got lost in the mail and you are just winging it as you try to figure out better ways to grow your business quickly.
Yeah, sure, you've been following some gurus, buying some self-study materials, reading all the "right books." Maybe you even went to a seminar or two or participated in a high level mastermind program. But you know it. Something still isn't working right. I mean look at your results. You still aren't there and you are working way harder than you want!
So now that I've gotten your attention, it's time to solve this problem so you can get back on track with building your empire. The solution is just a step away.
About the Author:
Melanie Benson Strick is the Million Dollar Lifestyle Business Coach. If you'd like to learn more about how to
get out of your own way and stop hijacking your success, you can download her new report, The CEO Factor Manifesto at
http://www.TheCEOFactorManifesto.com.
No. of Times this article has been viewed :
207
Date Published :
Feb 9 2009