The next factor of a CEO mindset and that is being able to ask for help when you need it.
This links closely with the other important CEO mindset factor of delegating. Both delegating and asking for help, are key skills you need to develop and they both contribute to being able to let go of the things you need to let go of, in order to scale your business.
When we talk about asking for help, we’re not necessarily just talking about getting new employees or finding a new team member. It may be you’re recognizing there’s a general field of work or technical skill your business needs in order to operate and you really need an outside vendor or service to do it properly. It may be that you’ve been doing all this work yourself up to now. Has it occurred to you whether this work is crucial to the business, yet you don’t have time or skill to complete it correctly? Perhaps you’re discovering that you need to let go of this work and turn it over to someone who has time and/or skill to do it?
One of the first benefits of getting help is that you get that expertise and yes, you may have to pay for it, but you know what – This is an area that is well worth the investment, as it gives you an immediate return when you start to scale your business.
Here’s another way of thinking about this issue of asking for help: I was talking to one of my clients the other day and they were expressing how frustrated and stuck they felt with an issue around expanding their current business operations. Through a series of problem-solving questions, my client had a major epiphone: They realized how, as a solopreneur, they had learned to do everything in their business alone, without input or support from anyone else. To me, this shows the true entrepreneur mindset: That you’ve learned to do everything on your own; from Chief Cook & Bottle Washer, through to finances and shipping. However, when your business needs to scale and grow, you as the owner, now face a new challenge – To know when and how to ask for help from other people who are more qualified and capable of doing the work the business now demands.
My question to you is this; Do you, like my client, find yourself constantly having to perform tasks that the business now requires, but at the same time, feel overwhelmed, and maybe even unqualified to do it? As a result, do you often end up putting it off, doing a mediocre job, or in the worst case, not completing it at all? If you see yourself reflected in this scenario, then I want you to consider that you might need outside help. Further to this, I want you to ask yourself if you’re able to trust someone to do this work for you!
The challenge I want to give you is to honestly evaluate how this may actually be a trust issue for you and how it may be impacting your true growth potential. Can you get to a place where you can trust someone else to do a job that you’ve done for years? Do you feel the job is too important to give to someone else, but at the same time, more than you can handle, either from a time management or a lack of skill perspective. This is perhaps the hardest decision you’ll need to make and requires a huge amount of honesty and self-awareness to consider!
I’d love to help you in this process of identifying these difficult, sometimes complex and very personal issues so you can scale and grow your business the way it was meant to be.
Click the link below and let’s have a conversation about where you are and how you can begin your growth journey.
