Page 38 - INSIGHT MAGAZINE - NoBleed_Neat

BUSINESS GROWTH

Both options are valid.
If you want to be a self-employed
technician, where you are in control
of your job then option 1 is for you
but if your entrepreneurial goals
Hiring good people builds include growth beyond your personal
time and talent limitations you must
choose option 2.
entrepreneurial success! Option 2 requires the strategic
hiring of people with talents that
you do not have that will enable
you to delegate and entrust parts of
your business operations to them.
This may be accounting, sales, HR,
communications and/or production
personnel and managers. Some of
In the opening chapter of The these services may be contracted out
• A good product or service and some are better achieved if hired
E-Myth Revisited, a nearly 30-year- that customers want; into your company.
old book that is still relevant today, • The ability to sell and deliver These are strategic decisions that
author Michael E. Gerber describes your products or services to will enable you to grow beyond your
your customers with quality
“The Entrepreneurial Seizure” or previous limitations. When you have
and timeliness; good people in the right places
that moment when you decide to go • The ability to follow in your business you can look up
into business for yourself. your money, understand from your day-to-day operations
Once the idea of entrepreneurship cashflow, receivables, and look out into the marketplace
enters your mind it is life changing. payables, and taxes and to for new opportunities. This sounds
Your imagination explodes with dreams take action to keep it all in easy, but giving up control of parts
of independence and success that will order; of your business to other people is
flow from turning your technical skills • The ability to manage and a challenging and necessary growth
or passions into a be-your-own-boss strengthen interpersonal step for small business entrepreneurs.
enterprise. “Do what you love,” they say, relationship with customers, You may want to enlist a business
“and you will never work another day in employees, suppliers, etc. coach who can also help you stick to
your life.” your growth plan when it gets hard, as
This leads to what Gerber calls “The Fatal it always does.
Assumption” which is that if you are good Usually, a business starts with your Remember, at this stage of your
at the technical work of a business or product or service idea that has market business growth what you really need
are passionate about the work you will demand or perceived market potential is good people with leadership skills
offer to the marketplace, then it follows and perhaps you have competency in and business management talents
that you will understand the business one of the other three foundational that are different and complimentary
of delivering your goods or services to elements. But no one is proficient to yours so that you can set yourself
your customers. In the early days of your in all four so entrepreneurial energy and your business up for success in
business this assumption can appear and grit to succeed will only take the next phase of your entrepreneurial
to be true. You launch your business you so far. Then the weaknesses in journey.
filled with entrepreneurial energy, find your business structure and practices
customers, provide your products or reveal themselves as your business
services, build your reputation, and get grows and your entrepreneurial
more customers. dream begins to crack.
The growth cycle continues. Everyone is It happens to all businesses.
happy until one day you discover that When your business grows to the
your success is crushing you and the fatal point where your success is crushing
assumption is revealed: That the technical you, you must make a choice to either:
About the author:
skills you have are just one small part of Murray Smith is the president and
a complex set of business skills that you 1. Limit your business size to one you owner of Blue Canoe Consulting.
need to ensure your success. can handle on your own or; He helps people and organizations
For you to succeed as an entrepreneur 2. Change your business structure improve outcomes by clarifying vision,
you need the following four foundational by hiring talent to shore up your developing stategy and training leaders
elements: weaknesses to enable continued
growth. to enable growth and success.

38 Fall 2023 www.cambridgechamber.com