What is Wall Street Wednesday? The Wall Street Journal Digital Network has a section specifically for small businesses. They address business related topics such as Financing & Investing, Building your Business, Technology, Franchising and more. Every Wednesday we will share a relevant small business article from the Wall Street Journal and provide our take on what WSJ has to say.
When Business Owners Are Control Freaks – January 24, 2010
In the start-up years, the necessity of dictating how everything around you is done can serve you well. Hyperattention to detail, intimate knowledge of your company’s operations and the lessons you learn by doing it all yourself are invaluable.
Unfortunately, many business owners become control freaks. When the business finally grows enough to hire staff, these control-freak business owners aren’t willing to let workers do their jobs. Instead, they watch over employees’ shoulders, trying to make sure everything is done exactly the way they would do it themselves. They become maddening, arrogant and overbearing, and they pretty much refuse to leave the building. And they’re generally miserable.
What’s important to remember is that while you must be hands-on in the early days of running a company, you also must step back to allow it to grow.
Click here to read the full article.
As a small business owner, even the most uncontrolling person can become a control freak when it comes to their business. We all want our business to be successful and often have the mentality “no one can do things like we do”. However, there are several reasons why it is important for small business owners to try not to do it all. Here are three key reasons not to become a control freak in your business:
- There are only so many hours in the day, time is one of our most precious resources and we all have the same 24-hours in each day. In order to grow your business your time should be spent on revenue generating tasks such as sales and marketing, product development, networking and relationship building to name a few. Tasks that are essential but not revenue generating need to be delegated to an employee or outsourced to a virtual assistant or other entity.
- A fresh perspective can also do wonders for your business. Sometimes we as business owners can be too close to our business that we cannot see “the next big thing” or ways to improve upon our business model. Delegating tasks and projects allows you to get an outside perspective. Sometimes just the simplest question or part of an idea from someone else can have a tremendous impact on the growth of your company.
- You are good at what you do, but everything can’t be your strength. For example, in addition to event planning I have a strong background in marketing, have great writing and communication skills, and am a natural leader. Based on these strengths I largely handle all of these tasks for Starr Studded Weddings & Events. However, I don’t have the patience for day-to-day accounting so I have my assistant complete those tasks and although I am capable of handling the event design for my events I prefer to oversee the décor and set up and leave the actual work to my designer. By not handling these tasks myself I use the portion of my 24-hours in a day allotted for my business to complete the projects and tasks that will have the greatest impact on my business growth and leave the rest to others.
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