Part 1:
It Is Bigger Than You

When you’re starting out, it is just you. Maybe you have a partner or a small team but everything rests on your shoulders. 

You carry the risk and you stand to gain the bulk of the rewards. 

Which means you have a lot of freedom to determine how things go in the business and what decisions are made.

As the business grows, you have the choice to either stay smaller than what you’re capable of, you can burn yourself out trying to handle more & more & more yourself, or you can hire to help manage the load.

Before you go hiring, keep these things in mind:

(1) Know what you are best at and focus yourself there. Hire others to be responsible & accountable for the outcomes for everything else that you can.

(2) Remember that it is no longer just about what you want. There is a vision and a dream and an ecosystem that lives and breathes inside of everyone who the business impacts. The person who can share, sell, and then deliver the best dreams to others will win.

(3) If you are a creative or more of an entrepreneur than a hardcore business operator, you will need to hire a CEO or COO to manage the business otherwise you will become stressed out, burnt out, and will sabotage your own business.

Part 2:
Your Top Focus

There are so many things that you can do in your business each day.

There is so much opportunity and the truth is that discernment to have the ability to say no to average opportunities will end up growing your business faster than trying to say yes to everything.

Here are some things to consider for where you should put your focus:

(A) Building systems and/or training people to help take you out of the current things that you are responsible for inside of the business

(B) Attract and court attention of key clients, partners, or team members

(C) Develop and evangelize the vision of the business & build relationships with others who see the vision as well

(D) Perform product and customer development activities to help ensure your business has products that increase lifetime value, create the opportunity for monthly recurring revenue, & that gross margins continue to improve over time.

Part 3:
Care For Your Most Important Asset

We’ve been conditioned by today’s hustle culture to put the grind above everything. 

We’ve been “in the zone” too and know it feels good to create and be productive and see dollars flow back to you because of it.

But you are your most important asset and if you don’t take care of yourself holistically, you will pay the price at some point down the line.

Some examples include:

(I) If you aren’t responsible for your emotions & patterns, they will amplify and become detrimental to your inner experience as well as how you interact with others.

(II) Remember that you are not your business. While there should be alignment on major things, your business is its own entity. Your personal mission and vision does not necessarily have to be that for your business as well.

(III) Pay yourself what you are worth so that you can fully care for yourself and be in energetic good standing without starting to resent your business.

(IV) Build a business that you can one day sell. Even if you don’t want to sell it, having the option and the knowing that you built something that has value outside of your continued labor will create wealth and freedom….

….instead of leaving you feeling trapped on a never-ending hamster wheel.