Control at the Top, Spinning Plates and Small Business Lessons

I am an entrepreneur  a creative one at that. I am however not a "solopreneur". I have been in business before and as some of my other posts have shown I have grown with age and experience. This past week I invited the people that have been helping me in my business, to a get together. The purpose was to set up some goals for the business.

Control at the Top is for pantyhose only!

A friend recently said that 1+1=3, not in math but in ideas. The more you are open to listening to others you can accomplish so much more than you can on your own. I totally agree. The mastermind of three very intelligent women can move mountains.  We talked about what had been accomplished in the first two years of this new venture and then set a plan for 3 months,6 months, 9 months, 18 months, 2 years, 3 years and 5 years. We then set about looking into all of what I wanted from the company in terms of goals, wants and desires.

Spinning Plates!

Small business is not a juggling act and if it is done correctly there is no such thing as a "solopreneur" You are the catalyst, it all started with your idea and you still make the final decisions, but to do it well and to be successful you need a little help from your friends.

This means you need to give up what you thought of as control and let people help you. I was afraid to give stuff away, because I didn't want to burden anyone. Come to find out my friends wanted more responsibility, and wanted to be more involved.

They said " we will tell you when it is too much." So what did this do for me? It gave me two plates to do well. They got their two so all of the plates are continuing to spin and nothing is crashing to the ground.

Small Business Lessons - I get by with help from my friends.

We work hard to come up with a winning formula. We get intrenched so far into the idea we get tunnel vision and we feel it is our burden alone.  The truth is we are good at what we do, but we are not good at everything. I know you may be reading this and saying, "I can't afford to hire anyone." Neither can I.

My friends and family are helping me out of the goodness of their hearts and the true belief that his will go in a direction that none of us can predict. They like the challenge, the excitement, and the thought of being in on what could possibly be the next big thing. But most of all they are doing it for the love. They have a belief in their friend, sister,  or daughter and believe me THAT is a huge motivator for me to do my best.

To do that, I need to let go of the parts I am not good at and do what I am good at. To do this we need to keep the lines of communication open. To do this we are all accountable to each other. To be the next big thing we need our team to be open strong and singularly focused.

Don't go it alone.

I know how to fail. I have done it before and done it well. I have gotten into debt, lost my freedoms, and had to work at jobs just to pay the bills. How did I fail so very miserably? I tried to do it all. I did not ask for help.

What I am doing now is so important to me that I have opened my heart and my mind. I have invited others in, I am listening to what they have to say and I am so happy we are now a we. 

Take stock in what you are doing. Ask yourself, "how important is it to you to succeed?" Then talk with your friends, see who can and wants to help. Listen to their expertise. Now go out and grow the best business you can imagine.