"Can I speak to the CEO please?", "Sorry, he's in the kitchen at the moment making the tea." In any large corporation this would appear ludicrous, but for small businesses it’s not far from the truth. But does running a small business still mean you have to be tea boy as well?
The thing with small businesses is that, well, they're small. You may have big dreams, but the number of staff will be fairly small. It has to be, simply because of the numbers. You don’t become a big business just by hiring a thousand people and hoping the money will come in soon to pay them.
But with a small business, the small number of staff will often mean doubling up, sharing duties, doing several different jobs. And yes, one of those will probably be making the tea, and yes, it will probably be the CEO who does it. After all, if the CEO is paying someone to do a job, they'll often be keen enough to get their money's worth, and make the tea for them.
This means though that the CEO is demoting their own importance and value. You simply can't do everything. Being a CEO doesn't mean you are highly skilled at every part of the business. You can't possibly be. You'll have your specialisms, your particular niche areas of expertise. You’re the one with a vision, the one who sees the big picture, the long story.
But no small business is going to develop into a medium sized business, or a large and successful business, if the CEO is constantly running around pretending to be all things to all people, all parts of the whole business. The CEO of a small business should not be the tea boy, the accountant, the secretary, the telephone support person, the copywriter, the legal team, the online marketing expert and the bookkeeper. There simply isn't the time in the day to do all these things and still run the business.
You can either run a business and move it forwards, expanding and improving, or you can peddle faster and faster and faster, taking on more and more of the daily responsibilities, but you'll end up just remaining exactly where you are.
It’s like one of those pedalos in the lake at the park. With the wind behind you, you only need peddle occasionally to enjoy getting somewhere, and you can focus on steering the boat exactly where you want to go. With the wind in your face, you can peddle all you like, but you'll hardly get anywhere, and you might as well forget holding the steering wheel as it’s entirely academic at that point, since you'll never get there anyway.
So as a CEO of a small business, how can you get the wind behind you, so that you can stop peddling so furiously, and start steering?
The first thing to do is to identify those elements of running the business on a day to day business to which you are simply unable to deliver 100%. For example, you may simply be too busy to answer every call, allowing some to go to voicemail, others to simply not get answered at all.
You may find that typing up letters and documents takes a great deal of time, especially if your typing skills or computer skills aren't great, and when it comes to online marketing you may find that you’re just guessing most of the time, and panicking about getting it wrong the rest.
Take these elements, and simply stop trying to do them all yourself. If you’re not able to deliver 100% on every single one of them, focus on those areas of the business you’re best at. That's inevitably going to be better for the business and give your clients a better experience.
But what of those areas where you can't deliver 100%? This is where outsourcing plays a crucial role in ensuring the success of a small business. Outsourcing is a hugely cost effective way of getting jobs done on time and to a professional standard, allowing you to play your part in the success of the business rather than peddling into the wind.
It is easy to outsource tasks such as copywriting, telephone answering, accounting, bookkeeping and even diary management. Virtual office services, virtual secretary services and outsourced telephone answering services are often available on a sliding scale of cost, which means that for a small business it is extremely affordable.
Imagine never having to spend your time answering calls, writing letters, sorting out the finances, creating invoices, chasing up payments, sorting out the mail, juggling diary entries or worrying about legal obligations. Outsourced office services are the wind that gives you the opportunity to start steering and stop peddling so franticly.
The thing with small businesses is that, well, they're small. You may have big dreams, but the number of staff will be fairly small. It has to be, simply because of the numbers. You don’t become a big business just by hiring a thousand people and hoping the money will come in soon to pay them.
But with a small business, the small number of staff will often mean doubling up, sharing duties, doing several different jobs. And yes, one of those will probably be making the tea, and yes, it will probably be the CEO who does it. After all, if the CEO is paying someone to do a job, they'll often be keen enough to get their money's worth, and make the tea for them.
This means though that the CEO is demoting their own importance and value. You simply can't do everything. Being a CEO doesn't mean you are highly skilled at every part of the business. You can't possibly be. You'll have your specialisms, your particular niche areas of expertise. You’re the one with a vision, the one who sees the big picture, the long story.
But no small business is going to develop into a medium sized business, or a large and successful business, if the CEO is constantly running around pretending to be all things to all people, all parts of the whole business. The CEO of a small business should not be the tea boy, the accountant, the secretary, the telephone support person, the copywriter, the legal team, the online marketing expert and the bookkeeper. There simply isn't the time in the day to do all these things and still run the business.
You can either run a business and move it forwards, expanding and improving, or you can peddle faster and faster and faster, taking on more and more of the daily responsibilities, but you'll end up just remaining exactly where you are.
It’s like one of those pedalos in the lake at the park. With the wind behind you, you only need peddle occasionally to enjoy getting somewhere, and you can focus on steering the boat exactly where you want to go. With the wind in your face, you can peddle all you like, but you'll hardly get anywhere, and you might as well forget holding the steering wheel as it’s entirely academic at that point, since you'll never get there anyway.
So as a CEO of a small business, how can you get the wind behind you, so that you can stop peddling so furiously, and start steering?
The first thing to do is to identify those elements of running the business on a day to day business to which you are simply unable to deliver 100%. For example, you may simply be too busy to answer every call, allowing some to go to voicemail, others to simply not get answered at all.
You may find that typing up letters and documents takes a great deal of time, especially if your typing skills or computer skills aren't great, and when it comes to online marketing you may find that you’re just guessing most of the time, and panicking about getting it wrong the rest.
Take these elements, and simply stop trying to do them all yourself. If you’re not able to deliver 100% on every single one of them, focus on those areas of the business you’re best at. That's inevitably going to be better for the business and give your clients a better experience.
But what of those areas where you can't deliver 100%? This is where outsourcing plays a crucial role in ensuring the success of a small business. Outsourcing is a hugely cost effective way of getting jobs done on time and to a professional standard, allowing you to play your part in the success of the business rather than peddling into the wind.
It is easy to outsource tasks such as copywriting, telephone answering, accounting, bookkeeping and even diary management. Virtual office services, virtual secretary services and outsourced telephone answering services are often available on a sliding scale of cost, which means that for a small business it is extremely affordable.
Imagine never having to spend your time answering calls, writing letters, sorting out the finances, creating invoices, chasing up payments, sorting out the mail, juggling diary entries or worrying about legal obligations. Outsourced office services are the wind that gives you the opportunity to start steering and stop peddling so franticly.
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