Small business owners can't know everything. As you are growing your business, you're going to find yourself in situations where you simply don’t know how to do something or what to do next. Sure, you have thousands of YouTube videos at your fingertips. You could spend a lot of time online without ever finding the solution to your specific problem. Leveraging experts for growth is important. The key is finding the right experts for the stage and size of your business.
Success Stories
When I was starting my business, I was in a group for individuals that had started their business and were ready to grow it. The woman who was leading this group had a retreat day where several of us worked on a specific problem within our business. My problem was that I was really struggling with creating content. This consultant used a Kolbe assessment, which measures your cognitive strengths and instinctive way of doing things to determine your method of operation. I was off the scale as a Quick Start, which gave her insight into why I was struggling with content. First, I need to hire out all the stuff that needs to be done unless it's really in my zone of genius because my productivity is terrible when I'm outside that space. Second, the person working with me at that time was not a good match for how I am out in my visionary space all the time. It takes a specific kind of person to work with that. She was a great person, just not a good match from that standpoint. This consultant looked at the way I worked to identify specific things I needed to do to overcome the barriers getting in the way of growing my business. Finding the right kind of expert got me where I am today with a process that enables me to push out content consistently. I have this knowledge and I need to share it. She helped me understand the best way for me to develop content is by speaking it and having somebody else take that recording to create a monthly package of content, rather than trying to literally write it myself on a weekly basis.
The other story I’d like to share is about my friend who is a CPA and worked in the corporate space before creating her own very successful consulting business. She started down this path because she had small children and knew that if she went back to her full-time position, she wouldn’t be honoring her priority of time with her children. She began taking on overflow work to help companies tackle their big projects. Eventually she had so much overflow work that she needed to find other people to hire. She purposefully sought out people who were in the same boat, who didn’t want to work full time because they had small children, an aging parent or someone else they were caring for. Every time she got to an inflection point in her business where she knew she needed to do things differently in order to grow to the next level, she would seek out a mentor; somebody that was further along the path than she was. They always agreed to mentor her because she was authentic and genuine in saying that she believed they had things they could teach her. Most people want to reciprocate and pay forward out of that space. She also leverages her network for references to outsource other work. Over and over, she has been using these methods to find the right experts and grow her business.
The moral of these stories is to believe in and plan for your own success. If you commit to bringing on an expert when you hit a specific revenue or client number, you’ll be ready from a budget perspective and you won’t be bogged down by pressure about whether it’s the right call at the right time or if you can make it work. You can avoid that mindset completely by developing a plan early on to set yourself up for greater success down the road. You’ll save yourself time and energy so you can bring somebody on more quickly and get back to your best work.
Secure Your Spot Today
The Inflection Point Hub is a group of small, but mighty, businesses owners positioned for intentional growth. There are many people at this stage of business development looking to tap into the expertise and experience of others further ahead on the path. And more than that, they want a reciprocal relationship where they can contribute their expertise and experience to those around them. Those reciprocal relationship are so valuable. Jeff Heyer-Jones, president of SparkEvolve, and I are building this peer advisory community to bring those small business owners together. We understand the power behind people working together, complimenting each other and bringing their own strengths to the table. If you’re ready to grow your business and yourself through access to a cohort of like-minded people and curated experts and resources, The Inflection Point Hub is for you. Learn more about what you'll get with your membership and secure your spot today.
