If you are scaling your business, there’s a lot you can do with automation and technology these days. The world is at your fingertips and you can build systems, processes and platforms for growth.
The exciting part of entrepreneurship and business growth is the learning, growing and work in a variety of areas of your business. Being a generalist is important for you as a skilled entrepreneur navigating the uncertainty which can confound much more timid souls. You have to be able to pivot when you see an opportunity or when you see problems ahead.
One of the talents you will also need is the ability to identify, recruit and hire specialists. You will likely have learned various parts of your business model. Maybe you worked on the IT systems, sales or the operations side. There is a lot of value to spend the time working and refining a role. It allows you to understand what is required should anyone else do the job.
Furthermore, it’s hard to grow your business if you are highly specialized. Your business has to have cohesion and coordination across the different roles and functions. And if you are stuck creating proposals or handling customer support issues your business will suffer because there is not a leveraged approach to the direction of the business model.
Hiring specialists is a talent that you have to master as an entrepreneur. You want to continually work on the following process personally in scaling your business:
- Scope a role
- Work the role
- Refine the way you want the job done
- Document how the job is done
- Identify talent
- Test the fit between your talent and the job
- Manage the talent and the processes
You move from a person doing reconnaissance to a person who becomes a manager of the business model.
This is often difficult for entrepreneurs that need a lot of control. It’s hard to let go because there’s some attachment to a role.
However, if you find yourself doing a $10/hour or $20/hour job when you feel you are worth $300/hour, then it’s not a great trade of time.
And the more sophisticated your business model, the more specialists you will need to hire and manage that part of the business while you continue developing the total picture and growth of your business model.
Do you find it hard to hire specialists to do the jobs you need?
