Is money what matters?
If you want this message (with more nuance) in podcast format click here. For YouTube click here.
The dilemma we all face:
The Facts:
You’d be surprised at how many successful folks are still the bottleneck for so many simple things. Tenants texting them. Investors demanding meetings. Approving $200 expenses and signing checks. Employees calling non-stop. They don’t have a biz, they have a job!
They call themselves entrepreneurs and tout how they control their schedules... But they are out of control all the time. Getting pulled in hundreds of different directions. And it ends up meaning no days off. No vacations. And a biz that depends on them day in and day out.
Many tell themselves they want to work constantly to provide a better future for their family, but it is a massive lie. They are obsessed with their work. They love it. They are addicted and don't actually want to delegate.
They like being busy.
Many already have all the money they'll ever need and don't take steps to get out of the rat race. Its just like anything else. Balance is the key. Family requires energy and time and nurturing. And its not nearly as exciting as working big deals or making a bunch of money.
Many say "I can't find any good help"...
But they don't actually do anything to go find good help. They expect a unicorn who cares about their business and wants to make $15 an hour to walk in the door and ask for a job.
My Thoughts:
Being a true entrepreneur isn't about making deals or doing any one required task inside your business. To build a valuable business that can grow beyond your 24 available hours a day you spend 99% of your time recruiting, hiring, training, firing, managing, building systems.
Its all about leveraging and empowering the work and efforts of other people and creating a win-win-win environment.
Customers win. Employees win. You win.
Thats the secret sauce.
In my business, problems go to someone on my team, not me. We have 31 people now.
Customers / tenants / investors reach out to someone on my team, not me.
New deals are sourced. Underwritten. Inspected. Closed. All by somebody else on my team, not me.
If I have a job, its a problem.
I still watch closely and work a lot but I’m never the bottleneck. My time doesn't make me money, my business does.
How do you get there?
#1 you work your ass off to find good talent and you get uncomfortable hiring them. More on that in my hiring course. Hint: good talent has a job. You have to hunt it down and sell it!
#2 you set those employees up for success with a simple, repeatable job. Remember - employees don't love chaos like you do. Not everyone is an entrepreneur. They want structure and
#3 you observe how well those employees handle the shit. When they call you you challenge them to think for themselves and solve the problem vs making it your problem. Too many owners simply say "get out of my way, I'll fix this." Bad habit.
The good employees solve the problems. The bad employees create them. You figure out real fast how good someone is.
Hire fast, fire faster.
And one more thing...
This is tough stuff. A lot of us (including me) absolutely love what we do.
I'm in my office going through my storage software to look at reports at each location on a Sunday afternoon. I'm firing off work emails right this second so WTF do I know.
We're all just out here figuring it out as we go along.
If you want to hear more on this and some of the actual nitty gritty delegation techniques, check out this podcast episode.
Talk soon,
Nick