As an avid reader and learning junkie, I can’t think of a nicer gift than to receive a book. Just such a gift showed up in my mailbox during the holidays, and I was delighted to see that it had been written by my colleague Essie Escobedo, the Chief Executive Angel at Office Angels. The book is called STOP doing that! 21 Activities Critical to Business Success That YOU Shouldn’t Do.
At fewer than 100 pages, Essie words of wisdom smacked me right upside the head yesterday morning. I didn’t have so much of an “ah ha” moment, as I did an “oh $%*#” moment when I realized that out of 21 activities, I’m guilty of doing 15 of them. Ouch!
Right then, I decided that I needed to change some things. How else can I expect my business to grow to the level I’ve been envisioning? But it is a funny thing about change. We commonly think that change of any significance takes a long time to make happen. I’ve come to agree with Tony Robbins that this is a myth. Start feeling enough pain and I guarantee you’ll change anything - instantly.
Entrepreneurs largely think that they have to do it all themselves and often use lack of money to fund the necessary resources as the excuse. Been there. I’ve boot-strapped it like everyone else, but the problem is that there will NEVER be enough free resources available to help you get to where you need to go. You must invest in yourself and your business and guess what…you must delegate the things that you don’t do well and that pull you away from your core strengths. The fact is that you’ve got to spend money to get the professional assistance you need in order to create a thriving business.
While I’m not going to share the entire list - because I want you to buy Essie’s book - I want to use activity #8 Creating Your Own Business Plan, as an example of what I resolved to change immediately. Yes, I have a sales and marketing plan, which probably puts me farther ahead than many small business owners, but an honest-to-goodness business plan that looks at all aspects of my business and considers today and the future of my company? Uh, a little lacking there. And I know exactly why. Not only am I too close to the situation and think all of my ideas and strategies are brilliant – come on, what business owner doesn’t? – but I’m not the most skilled at it. I am fully aware of the importance of having a clear and detailed roadmap but with so many opinions out there about how to do planning well, I become overwhelmed before I even begin. Convenient excuse, isn’t it?
If you truly want to succeed, you must hire help! It really is that simple. I know. I did it yesterday when I hired a business advisor to help me get that plan in order.
Now it’s your turn. Read Essie’s book. Determine what help you need. Commit to hiring someone immediately, do it, then come back to my blog and share your success story.
By the way, I’ll be interviewing Essie about her book in an upcoming podcast on Entrepreneurial Mastery. I know you’ll want to tune in!
Thanks for introducing me to Essie’s book. I know and respect her but hadn’t checked this out. Thank you too for your transparency to identify that no matter what our areas of strength are, we can benefit from the strengths of others to make us even better. I’m sure this will launch you on an even greater path than the awesome one you are already on.