Often entrepreneurs try to run their business completely on their own. This certainly has it’s merits in the early going of any business but you are fooling yourself if you think it is scalable.
You must invest in infrastructure and administrative help and you must build these costs into your model.
I have seen more and more companies utilizing virtual assistants to help them make the transition from doing everything on their own to hiring full time help.
“A Virtual Assistant (VA) is an independent entrepreneur providing administrative, creative and/or technical services. Utilizing advanced technological modes of communication and data delivery, a professional VA assists clients in his/her area of expertise from his/her own office on a contractual basis.”
No matter what path you take the sooner you acknowledge that you cannot do everything needed to run the business yourself if you are going to have any chance of growing the sooner you will start to grow.
We are at the point where we have a number employees dedicated to running the business so that Mike can spend time working on the business as Michael Gerber says.
I would love to know how you are making the transition from doing everything to putting people in processes in place that will allow you to scale.
For those of you that aren’t familiar with him, Perry Marshall is an internet marketing expert that writes some great material on internet marketing and marketing in general.
A recent email from him touched on something that I think is so important and powerful right now: honoring the role of the entrepreneur.
I am a huge believer in the ability of entrepreneurs to change the world for the better. I think that being an entrepreneur brings out the best in people, and that entrepreneurship is the most efficient and effective way to move ideas forward to fruition.
Considering how large of a role the government is starting to play in the lives of every American, it is critically important that we don’t lose sight of the fact that it was entrepreneurs that built this country, and it’s entrepreneurs that will continue to make it strong and healthy. Not bailouts from the government.
I think Perry’s message has some great points about the value of entrepreneurs to change lives for the better. If you are an entrepreneur, take a few minutes when you read this to give yourself a rare pat on the back. If you aren’t an entrepreneur but you know one, take a few minutes to recognize their accomplishments and the risks they are willing to take.
Perry’s message is posted below.
MRC
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Mike,
I just came home from a seminar by Paul Manwaring called “A Culture of Honor.” As he spoke about how carelessly people criticize each other on TV and in daily life – and how uplifting it is to receive words of affirmation – I was struck by how little appreciation most entrepreneurs get from… well, anybody.
The evening news is no celebration of business people, that’s for sure.
The government ain’t doing much to make your job easier.
So… why would you risk everything, endure multiple bankruptcies, work 17 hours a day for weeks and months at a time, to be the first to be taxed and the last to get paid in a game that offers no guarantee of success whatsoever?
It takes a very special kind of person.
It takes a person who is driven from the inside by passion and vision and a bit of eccentricity. It requires you to be so dissatisfied with the status quo that you feel like you can endure anything so long as it’s not the present mediocrity.
You’re one of those people who just can’t stand following the car ahead of you on the expressway to some cubicle for the rest of your life.
Or maybe you have this idea for a product or a way of doing something and you’re convicted to your very soul that the world needs to see things *your* way for once.
In any case, I doubt it’s because you’re just some greedy, money-grubbing over-achiever who needs to take a chill pill. No, that popular depiction is deeply misleading.
I just want to say… Wherever you are in your journey, I’m proud of you, I HONOR you, and I cheer you on in your effort. Any honest business is a noble and honorable thing.
I’ll never forget my 2nd trip to Africa. I’m somewhere southwest of Nairobi Kenya, visiting George Karanga and his wife Jane, two very special people who run a foster program for AIDS orphans.
I’m meeting a woman whose husband is dying of AIDS, he’s down to 66 pounds… all kinds of kids who’ve lost both parents to HIV and now live with aunts, uncles or grandparents… people who are deathly sick for lack of $1.00 for a bus ticket to go to a medical clinic… a woman who’s 8 years a paraplegic, living under a tin roof in a dark mud hut, her sole entertainment her radio, her cat, and her kind neighbors who look after her.
Not a cheery scene.
But the epiphany occurs when I meet a fellow named Paul Mungai, who runs a cobbler shop. Paul, ironically, is crippled, but he knows how to make and fix shoes. And he knows how to run a business.
He started with just $50.00 of seed money and now has, by Kenyan standards, a sound business. He’s feeding his family, he’s paying his rent, his kids have uniforms to wear to school, and everyone in his care has enough to live on.
There’s a gleam in his eye. We exchange a few words and share our mutual understanding: There is one and only one path out of poverty. The one and only path out of poverty is entrepreneurship and business success.
It ain’t government. It’s not social programs. It’s not charity. It’s not even jobs or technology. It’s entrepreneurship.
The message was loud and clear: What you and I do may be daring, crazy, irrational and largely misunderstood. Condescending do-gooders may tell you you’re greedy or too successful. Your brother-in-law may think you’ve got your head stuffed in a cloud.
The government may think it has the right to confiscate your profits and give them to “education” or other well-intentioned social programs. You might cater to some strange market, doing something that most people consider frivolous.
But the fact remains: What you and I do is profoundly important. You and I pave the road that leads from poverty to success. We create the ingenuity and jobs and wealth that makes good medical care possible.
We create the world that has enough to eat, the world where even welfare kids in housing projects get three square meals a day.
So don’t ever apologize to anyone for doing what you do. If it wasn’t for you, me and the rest of us entrepreneurs, “they” would still be sleeping on dirt floors.
That conversation with Paul in Kenya sparkled with the mutual awareness of what I just described to you.
And as George took me to see other recipients of Micro-Enterprise seed funding – a lady selling sardines and tomatoes on a nailed-together stand on the side of the road, several women selling fruits and vegetables in the local markets, I thought of the entrepreneurs I meet in the US, Canada and Australia.
I thought of those rah-rah Amway rallies I was going to years ago, and the easily-exploited naivet? that’s so characteristic of the “Biz Op” market as it’s sometimes called.
And like it or not, it’s that raw enthusiasm and independent spirit that drives the prosperity of the West.
Where that drive, imagination and ingenuity are lacking, people starve – literally.
So yes, some business people are too greedy. Some entrepreneurs don’t care about their fellow man. Some people do make their money by dishonest means. But remember, the character quotient is no better on the poor side of the fence.
So if you’re prospering by means of an honest enterprise – or if you’re struggling to put one together – then you are a hero. The bards and minstrels may not sing songs about you, and your handsome face may never appear on The Apprentice, but what you do every day when you get out of bed is a worthwhile and indeed necessary thing.
Don’t ever forget it. What you do matters. A lot. It’s worth celebrating and it’s HONORABLE.
“In tough economic times, focus your mental energy on expanding revenue. Middle class thinkers allow fear to dictate their behavior; while world class thinkers bask their consciousness in abundance and calmly weather economic storms.”
-Steve Siebold
Most of you have probably never heard of Steve Siebold; I had not until about a year ago. He’s a optimum performance coach/speaker/guru that doesn’t seem to have quite hit the big time yet in terms of being a nationally recognized figure.
I had heard great things about his book though and purchased it about a year ago, and I must say that it’s one of my favorite things to read for a minute or two each morning; gets me in the right mindset. His book is:
I know the title sounds a bit cheesy, but his story explains it. Steve was a highly ranked pro tennis player at one point, but never cracked the top 10, where all the money is at. After his career ended, he realized that he had as much tennis talent as anyone, but he didn’t have the mental toughness of the best players.
He set out to study why some people have mental toughness and others don’t. Why is it that Tiger Woods always seems to come through in the clutch? Why is it that Phil Mickelson always seems to choke? Mental toughness.
As an entrepreneur, life and your business can throw you some real curve balls. If you get frazzled, you tend to make bad decisions. If you can stay calm and focused (mentally tough), you tend to be able to remain more objective and logical.
I think his book does a very good job of covering the subject, and the lessons are a very nice reminder. It’s organized into very brief – essentially 1 or 2 pages each – chapters, so it makes for a very quick read each morning and is easy to share with your team as a lesson each day.
