Hire people for what they do best

I recently flew from Seattle to Atlanta, I realized just as we started our taxi that it takes hundreds of personal support to keep a flight going. I saw the woman at check-in, security, pilots, baggage handlers, flight crews, air traffic controllers and all the staff physically on the tarmac doing what people do on an airport tarmac.

Just as it takes hundreds of people to make a flight happen, it takes a small army to run a business. One thing I have learned in my short life in business is the indisputable fact that one person can get in the way of growing a successful business.

I constantly find myself doing ‘clerical’ things like keeping track of overdue accounts, keeping up with taxes and marketing details, and balancing the bread and butter of my company. It’s easy to get sidetracked from mundane tasks, it seems like just as I start a project, the phone rings.

I’ve also learned that letting go of some things can give you more control. Confused? Think about it: I spend more than 3 hours a week on accounting details. I don’t make any money from it, my money comes from website design and consulting companies about their online presence. Why would I spend 3 hours NOT making money when I can make $45 an hour doing what comes naturally? The answer: because you have to. By spending 3 hours a week, “losing” $45 an hour, I am losing $135 a week, $7020 a year.

When I hired my accountant, I ‘saved’ money. I no longer lose $7,000 a year on administrative tasks. Instead, I can pay you, much less than $7000 a year, to handle my account needs. This frees me up 3 hours a week to engage with my clients.

I also have someone who takes care of mail, bills and some phone calls. I get about too many “$50,000 Pre-Approval” notices every day. I needed someone to rip out and shred my personal information and throw the rest away. This alone saves me time, allowing me to focus on running my business.

Business owners are a special breed. We are often described as stubborn, strong-willed, crazy, smart, and lucky. Neither of those descriptors is negative, or shouldn’t be. Business owners are needed just as much as employees. This special breed often allows these words to become common practice, for some of you the idea of ​​delivering important aspects of your company is unrealistic.

How realistic is it to hire a lawyer to paint your house? How about hiring a carpet cleaner to set up your computer network? Obviously these people are not incompetent to do these things, but it is not their profession.

Sometimes having less to worry about will help spark your creativity. I know a local photographer who insisted on designing her website, even though she had great creative ideas, the mediums were harder for her to come by. She didn’t know about search engines, or cross-browser compatibility, or what a browser was. But it was excellent when it came to focus, lighting, and shutter speed. My point? Hire people to do what they do best.

My accountant is an accountant, he does bookkeeping and he does my bookkeeping. I’m not going to ask you to take my picture, design my website, or paint my house.

Forget about some aspects of your business, you can be the pilot and not have to worry about baggage handling or check-in counter staff.