If you were jetting off for a family vacation and a family medical emergency came up, would you be able to take the time away from your business? Would you know that it’ll continue to run without you?
If not, Angela Heit is sharing 3 simple steps to get us on our way. For the past 12 years she’s been helping entrepreneurs and small business owners build their Dream Teams and grow their businesses.
Having an amazing team is a priority:
There’s really only one way to have your business run without you. You need a team of amazing people that you can trust completely. Whether that’s a micro team of subcontractors or employees—you want to be able to count on them. You want a team to take care of everything while you’re away spending uninterrupted time enjoying your trip or spending time with your family.
I recently had to deal with a surprise medical emergency just before I was to go away to Africa for a trip of a lifetime. I’d always wanted to go on a safari, and the perfect time had finally opened up. It was planned and booked and there wasn’t anything that would stop me from going. But to do that I needed to have surgery and, more importantly, heal before I was to leave.
I’m incredibly grateful that I had a business that enabled me to take the time to do both.
The time I had invested in creating a plan, building systems and processes, and growing an amazing team came back to me many times over in the most unexpected ways during that month and a half absence.
But if you’re like most entrepreneurs, you don’t have that amazing trusted team. You take working vacations or rarely take time off because when you do, you have to call and check in, or manage emergencies, or deal with customer expectations or their upsets, and it all falls on you. And your family and friends are probably sick of it. Even when you’re with them, you’re still spending half your time and attention worrying about your business. You end up taking just one more phone call or checking email.
Here are 3 things you can do immediately to build your 5-star team and stop being a slave to your business:
- Take Stock: Take a good long look at your existing team. Who is fantastic and who isn’t? Who causes more problems than they solve? Who takes up your time? Who do you have to clean up after? And when do you decide to do it yourself because the person who’s supposed to do it just can’t?
You have a vision of a business that will support you and give you more freedom. Keep the people who have the talent, ability, and values to make it easy to achieve that vision, and release the ones who make it difficult. You’ll be a lot happier.
2. Identify the Gaps: Ok, you now have a few holes in your team. It’s time to get clear on what you really need. What do you love doing? What do you hate doing? What talents, abilities, and skills would you need to add to your business to do more of what you love and drop what you hate?
Answering these questions will not only help you achieve your vision of more freedom, it will also make your day-to-day job a lot more fun.
3. Hire the Right People: Now that you’re clear on what you need, it’s time to hire the people. People who will fill the gaps and free up your time to do what you love. Here’s what you need to answer: What tasks can be outsourced to subcontractors? What tasks need to be done full time and in house? How many jobs are there? What skills, talents, and abilities do you need to do those jobs? What values do these perfect people have to have to fit your business?
Hiring is all about being really clear on what you want, broadcasting it, and then recognizing your perfect people when you meet them so you can make the perfect choice.
Answering these questions will do just that so you can hire your amazing team and build a business that supports you whether you are there or not.
What’s the role you need to fill that will give you immediate relief?
If you’re thinking, “Whoa, that sounds great, I’d love to hire right but how do I do it without making mistakes?!”