The Entrepreneurial (and independent sales pro's) Trap

Happy Friday!

One of the experts who will be training the participants (AND me) at
our upcoming Extreme Business Makeovers event in Orlando wrote
a great article that I thought would be well worth your time. Though
I'm still a "work in progress," I can say personally that Stephanie's
simple systems have helped me improve and be much more conscious
about working ON my business, not IN it.

Remember - if you want to save over 50% on your tickets to Extreme
Business Makeovers 2008, you must type the word - SUCCESS - in the
coupon code box on the online Check Out page after you click to
reserve your seats and select the one or two ticket option. The web
address, once again, is http://www.extremebusinessmakeovers.com

Here's the article ... Enjoy!
Thom

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The Entrepreneurial (and independent sales pro's) Trap
By Stephanie Frank


by Stephanie Frank

You're a smart, hardworking entrepreneur, and you're moving fast.
You are highly educated in your field and your business is growing
and getting busier each day. But somehow, you find yourself stuck.
You're doing more tasks that take you away from your core business,
you are working more and earning less. You need help. Wouldn't it
be great if there was someone, anyone out there who could help you
take away some of the daily tasks so you could focus on the things
you really love?

Maybe you've looked, tried to work with or even hired people to
help you manage your business. But somehow, every time, things just
didn't go right, and there you were, left again with the mounds of
paperwork, details and projects to manage. Alone.

"No problem," you tell yourself. "I can do it faster myself anyway."

In that one statement, you just fell into the biggest trap of your
entrepreneurial career.

Growing and leading your business is by far the biggest challenge a
business owner faces. After all, you are highly specialized in your
field - which is not business management. Unfortunately for most
business owners, when a new employee or contractor comes into the
business, one of two things usually happens.

1. The business owner and new hire spend hours, days, weeks and
sometimes months working side by side, with the business owner
explaining all of the intricacies of the job. When the employee or
contractor gets good at the job, the business owner begins to
panic, wondering if the person will stay. When the person leaves
the company, the process repeats. Frustration, fear and doubt
plague the business owner.

2. The new person is hired and told briefly what is expected of
him/her. The big picture is provided and the person is left up to
his or her own judgment as to how the job gets done. The person
does the job in a different manner than the owner and is
reprimanded for doing things a new way. The employee feels
disempowered, afraid, and leaves. Frustration, fear and doubt
plague the business owner once again.

It doesn't have to be that way.

You can have the freedom, focus and results you want in business.
Solving this problem is simple. You probably weren't trained in
school as a business manager, so you must first understand that
business operations management is a required skill for a success in
business. Most people make it too hard, by hoping for a single
person to show up on their doorstep, smart, focused, creative and
able to take away the tasks that lay before them with hardly a
second thought. I'm about to burst your bubble, because that person
is probably already in business for themselves. It's up to you to
create the environment where other people can be empowered to
assist you. Here are four simple steps to get you started on the
road to turn-key success.

1. Create total focus.

Get out a piece of paper and draw a line down the middle. Title the
page Total Focus. On the left side, write down all of the tasks you
do in a week, from answering the phone to shipping to providing
service and creating new products. On the right side, write down
the three things you love doing. Compare the lists.

2. Group tasks for easy delegation.

Next to each task, label it with one of the three major business
areas:

- Administrative (office paperwork)

- Sales/Marketing (attracting customers or making the sale)

- Production (producing/shipping and delivery of products or
services)

3. Start Documenting.

For each task, write down the steps to completion. You might start
with “Here's How We _____________” to prompt you. Use whatever
method is simplest for you - a screenshot, written or typed steps,
diagrams - just get it down on paper and put it in a binder called
Procedure Manual.

4. Get Help.

Begin looking for people to work on tasks that are not in your
"love to do" column. Start small. The right person works only a few
hours per week on the things that take you days.

There is no magic person who can do all business tasks (except you,
of course!). With your Procedure Manual in hand, you can delegate
properly, relax and enjoy building your business, the simple way.

Stephanie Frank is an internationally known author and speaker.
Take the free quiz "Do You Have What It Takes To Be The Next
Accidental Millionaire?" and receive $1,574 of business building
tools and resources at http://www.AccidentalMillionaire.com