Jack of All Trades / Master of None – NOT A GOOD THING
You Just Can’t Sustain Doing It All
Small Business Owners, Entrepreneurs, Mom and Pop Shops…..try to do everything, but at some point, the light comes on and you realize you just can’t. As business owners we are the CEO, CFO, CTO, COO, and every other “C-Initial-Initial” out there for our businesses. We’re responsible for customer service, marketing, ordering, networking, book keeping, booking appointments, advertising, and lets not even discuss how we’re supposed to be Tweeting, updating our profiles on Google +, Facebook, LinkedIn and whatever other Social Media platform comes out this year. The list for our responsibilities usually doesn’t diminish as we grow, it usually only becomes much longer. With any luck, soon after we open our doors we start getting business….people start to flood in, money starts rolling in, then we’re maintaining our relationships with our customers and trying to get them to refer us, that’s right….another responsibility we just got. Exhausting isn’t? So what the heck are we supposed to do if we can’t do everything? Is it safe and feasible to remain the “Jack of all Trades”? Wouldn’t it be better to be the “Master of Some” instead?
Focus on What You’re Great At
small business advertising
We’ve all heard that phrase right? “Jack of all Trades, Master of None”. We know from where it stems, people are given many responsibilities and due to the workload of those many responsibilities, then they can’t focus and excel at any particular job or task. So is it better to be good at many things rather than being GREAT at just a few? Some would argue yes… I would say NO. The reason I say that is that if you’re like me, I didn’t go into business to be an Accountant, I didn’t want to be an Attorney, nor a Procurement Specialist, heck I didn’t think when I was younger that I wanted to be a Customer Support Representative when I was growing up. Not that there is anything wrong with any of those positions, they are all VITAL. They just weren’t my dream job…and yes, I’m probably the only man who didn’t want to be an astronaut when I was a little kid. I found out that I really enjoyed helping people be successful, I enjoyed networking, and I really believed in small business…. I saw the light and became a small business marketing consultant. I have always believed that if we play to our strengths and our skill sets, we’ll be successful. As much as it is so difficult to offload the other responsibilities, such as the ones listed above…. I’ve found that the time it provides me has been invaluable. It has allowed me to FOCUS on what I do well… Having that time has really contributed to our success.
Two Seemingly Dirty Words for Small Business – Embrace Them
I’m going to mention two words which normally make small business owners cringe when hearing them. OUTSOURCING and HIRING. There, I said them….sorry but if your business is to grow, you are going to have to hire help at some point (good problem to have) as well as start outsourcing some of the things you are doing now. Truth to be told, you are already outsourcing things in your business, you always have. In fact, you were outsourcing things before you EVER thought of getting into business. It would be time and cost prohibitive for you to hand deliver all of your correspondence / packages to your recipients, you rely on the Post Office, UPS, FedEx for those services more often than not. You also have probably used a mechanic, dry cleaning service, pizza delivery. Why? Because you don’t have the time to do it, they have a reliable process, and its more cost effective. I bet you never thought of that being a form of outsourcing. What are some other ways for you to outsource? Is it time to hire an attorney to help you with your contracts, forms, etc.? Have you thought about having a CPA assist you with your bookkeeping? Using a Local Marketing firm to help you with your social media, advertising, branding?
You’ll Save Money – Use This Easy Calculation
The biggest hurdle we as small business owners have to get past, is understanding that our time is very valuable. You need to know how much your time is worth, what is your “Per Hour” rate for that time? Use that rate to help you decide if it’s time for you to outsource those items you do well, but not great. If you’re business is making $100 an hour, does it make sense for you to spend a few hours addressing and stamping out your Thank Your Cards – Probably Not!!!. Having that extra time to focus on your customers as well as the skills and services you excel at will help propel your business past your competition and bring you more revenue.
small business marketing
Small Business Owners, Entrepreneurs, Mom and Pop Shops…..try to do everything, but at some point, the light comes on and you realize you just can’t. As business owners we are the CEO, CFO, CTO, COO, and every other “C-Initial-Initial” out there for our businesses. We’re responsible for customer service, marketing, ordering, networking, book keeping, booking appointments, advertising, and lets not even discuss how we’re supposed to be Tweeting, updating our profiles on Google +, Facebook, LinkedIn and whatever other Social Media platform comes out this year. The list for our responsibilities usually doesn’t diminish as we grow, it usually only becomes much longer. With any luck, soon after we open our doors we start getting business….people start to flood in, money starts rolling in, then we’re maintaining our relationships with our customers and trying to get them to refer us, that’s right….another responsibility we just got. Exhausting isn’t? So what the heck are we supposed to do if we can’t do everything? Is it safe and feasible to remain the “Jack of all Trades”? Wouldn’t it be better to be the “Master of Some” instead?
Focus on What You’re Great At
small business advertising
We’ve all heard that phrase right? “Jack of all Trades, Master of None”. We know from where it stems, people are given many responsibilities and due to the workload of those many responsibilities, then they can’t focus and excel at any particular job or task. So is it better to be good at many things rather than being GREAT at just a few? Some would argue yes… I would say NO. The reason I say that is that if you’re like me, I didn’t go into business to be an Accountant, I didn’t want to be an Attorney, nor a Procurement Specialist, heck I didn’t think when I was younger that I wanted to be a Customer Support Representative when I was growing up. Not that there is anything wrong with any of those positions, they are all VITAL. They just weren’t my dream job…and yes, I’m probably the only man who didn’t want to be an astronaut when I was a little kid. I found out that I really enjoyed helping people be successful, I enjoyed networking, and I really believed in small business…. I saw the light and became a small business marketing consultant. I have always believed that if we play to our strengths and our skill sets, we’ll be successful. As much as it is so difficult to offload the other responsibilities, such as the ones listed above…. I’ve found that the time it provides me has been invaluable. It has allowed me to FOCUS on what I do well… Having that time has really contributed to our success.
Two Seemingly Dirty Words for Small Business – Embrace Them
I’m going to mention two words which normally make small business owners cringe when hearing them. OUTSOURCING and HIRING. There, I said them….sorry but if your business is to grow, you are going to have to hire help at some point (good problem to have) as well as start outsourcing some of the things you are doing now. Truth to be told, you are already outsourcing things in your business, you always have. In fact, you were outsourcing things before you EVER thought of getting into business. It would be time and cost prohibitive for you to hand deliver all of your correspondence / packages to your recipients, you rely on the Post Office, UPS, FedEx for those services more often than not. You also have probably used a mechanic, dry cleaning service, pizza delivery. Why? Because you don’t have the time to do it, they have a reliable process, and its more cost effective. I bet you never thought of that being a form of outsourcing. What are some other ways for you to outsource? Is it time to hire an attorney to help you with your contracts, forms, etc.? Have you thought about having a CPA assist you with your bookkeeping? Using a Local Marketing firm to help you with your social media, advertising, branding?
You’ll Save Money – Use This Easy Calculation
The biggest hurdle we as small business owners have to get past, is understanding that our time is very valuable. You need to know how much your time is worth, what is your “Per Hour” rate for that time? Use that rate to help you decide if it’s time for you to outsource those items you do well, but not great. If you’re business is making $100 an hour, does it make sense for you to spend a few hours addressing and stamping out your Thank Your Cards – Probably Not!!!. Having that extra time to focus on your customers as well as the skills and services you excel at will help propel your business past your competition and bring you more revenue.
small business marketing