John Maxwell made famous the saying, “Everything rises and falls on leadership.” Anyone who has been in leadership for any length of time knows how right John is. Whether you lead a church, business, athletic organization, non-profit, or education institution, everything really does rise and fall on leadership.
If you are a regular reader of this site then you know BELAY Solutions is absolutely one of my favorite organizations. Co-founded by Bryan Miles and his wife Shannon, BELAY was recently ranked #1 among small companies in the 2017 Top Company Cultures List Presented by Entrepreneur and CultureIQ.
Bryan and Shannon have become two of America’s most influential leaders. If you have not gotten Bryan’s new book Virtual Culture: The Way We Work Doesn’t Work Anymore, a Manifesto, click HERE. I highly recommend it.
Below is an article written by Bryan for LinkedIn on 5 Things That Separate Successful Small Business Owners From The Rest.
After reading, if you consider getting a virtual assistant, click HERE and start a conversation with the BELAY team today.
Now onto Bryan’s comments:
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When I was young, I told my parents I wanted to own my own company. Apparently, from an early age, I liked the idea of being the boss. That desire continued as I grew up. I wanted to create a company where people felt like they could grow and be pushed to explore the possibilities of their growth.
In my early 30s, my wife and I were both working at separate corporations when we realized that season of our careers was starting to come to an end. We both wanted a change. I was traveling like crazy. My kids were very young. I never got to see them or my wife. I didn’t want to miss out on their lives anymore.
I also had this nagging entrepreneurial itch I couldn’t seem to shake. After much discussion, research, and prayer, my wife and I cashed out all of our 401(k)s to use as our start-up capital. That dream turned into a successful business, with Inc. Magazine ranking us as one of the Fastest-Growing Companies in the United States for three years in a row.
I’ve learned a few key things about what it takes to start up your own business:
End Well with Your Employers
When my wife gave her 60-day notice on October 1, 2010, and I gave my 45-day-notice, we were on the heels of the “Great Recession.” We were leaving stable jobs with an uncertain future and we had doubts like everybody.
We wanted to make sure we left on good terms with our employers, so we gave them ample notice. We wanted to finish out well in case this whole idea didn’t work — or if it did work, we hoped our employees would treat us with the same level of respect one day.
Talk to Others About Your Idea
Before starting our own business, my wife and I spent a lot of time with very successful business people asking a bunch of questions. One of my most poignant moments was climbing up a mountain with my good friend and informal business advisor.,,
We were climbing on the Grand Teton at about 10,000 feet when I made a comment about owning my own business. He stopped me mid-stream and said I didn’t own my business at all. I was shocked! He told me that the day the business didn’t need me from day-to-day, would be the day I owned the business. It was a little hard to hear his advice at the moment, but as I descended down the mountain, I realized he had a valid point.
Think about it: As a business owner, you’ve got that fire lit beneath you. You have that inner drive that steers you. But the truth is that no successful leader gets where he or she is alone. Work to develop an army of supporters. Let them speak to you and listen to their guidance.
Failure isn’t an Option
When we started our business, we had a vision of where we wanted to be and kept envisioning that success. We struggled like any business starting off, but we always came back to our shared vision. Failure wasn’t an option for us. Come hell or high water, we were determined to succeed.
If you have a vision of the direction you want to go and have the passion and heart behind that, failure won’t be an option. We knew where we wanted to go and kept taking the steps to get there. So few businesses know how to make that leap from creating a vision to making their vision a reality. Keep envisioning your success and incorporate your vision into the core of your business.
Duplicate Yourself First
In the very beginning, some entrepreneurs have no choice but to shoulder excessive loads. Limited capital, inconsistent growth and 28-hour days will force many upstart entrepreneurs to become (very exhausted) one-man bands. But, even after the revenue starts streaming in, many entrepreneurs continue to do it all.
I’ve heard plenty of different theories about why so many entrepreneurs take the “Swiss Army” approach to leadership, but I think it comes down to this: business owners want to be the hero. However, you can’t grow your business if you’re bogged down by administrative tasks.
Bottom line: if you don’t have an admin, you are the admin. You need to duplicate yourself by hiring an assistant once you start getting traction so you can start doing more with your time. Start off-loading your lower payoff activities to someone else.
In the early stages of our business, I was able to sell most of our contracts for the first 18 months. We made it into the black around month 14. We had wind in our sails and cash in hand. We began empowering other people to help run the operations. It seemed like it would be cheaper to do it ourselves, but when we were honest about the value of our time and the greatest return on time investment, it really was cheaper to find someone else to do it.
Start Realizing Results
What started eight years ago as simply a good idea, has now grown into a leading virtual solutions company with almost 700 team members. Whether you are just starting your journey as a new business owner, or further down the path, make sure you’re not trying to do it all.
BELAY offers expert-level, weapons grade, business-class options for organizations looking for bookkeeping, webmaster and administrative support. To learn more about our virtual solutions and start climbing higher, go here.