ENTREPRENEURSHIP
THE KEY INGREDIENT TO UNSTOPPABLE ENTREPRENEURSHIP? IT MAY NOT BE WHAT YOU THINK WRITTEN BY: ANNA-VIJA MCCLAIN PHOTOS BY: ELISENDA SIMMONS PHOTOGRAPHY
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ANT TO BE a successful entrepreneur? Then stop ‘grinding’ it out and start building the right team. Like, now. When I started my marketing business, I was just coming off of an eight-year career in private club management. While I certainly learned a lot, most of that time was spent learning about what not to do. I was miserable and depressed, experiencing major anxiety and panic attacks. After my departure from this position, rather than just finding a new job and going to work for someone else, I told myself I could be super successful all on my own. It would just be me, alone in my spare bedroom, ‘grinding.’ That would be all I would ever need. I was very, very wrong. There was no shortage of opportunity from the beginning, and in the first six months of opening my company, I took on 17 new clients. However, no matter how I tried to manage everything, I would soon have to admit to myself that I needed help. After more than a few sleepless nights, I decided to offer a part-time contractor position to someone who had worked for me previously. My business continued to grow, so the task of finding good people and successfully training and integrating them with the team is one I continue to have to this day. My phenomenal team is very supportive of me as their leader and mentor, and as an entrepreneur and an individual. I am a successful entrepreneur not because I grind harder than anyone else, but because of the amazing people on my team and the environment I have created to support their success. The good news? You can be, too. The Truth About the Entrepreneurs Who Have Lasting Success We’ve all heard the statistics. Only about 20 percent of new businesses last beyond the first year. Another 50 percent drop off in the following five years, and less than one-third are still hanging on 10 years later. In his book, “The E-Myth Revisited,” Michael E. Gerber tells the classic tale of the new entrepreneur. His book was such a perfect
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encapsulation of my journey that it made me tear up as he described a person in a worker bee position at an already established company who is disappointed with their pay, their boss, and their workload. Telling themselves they can do it better, they leave to open their own company. But the new business owner quickly becomes overwhelmed by thinking that if they can work 14, 16, 18+ hour days, they can be successful. The truth is, this is counter-productive and self-limiting. If you want to be one of the businesses that makes it well past your 10-year mark, you have to start by taking care of yourself, employing the right people to help you, and building repeatable, teachable processes within your business. The Need Is Real Not long ago, I was in LA for the Business Builder Mastermind program with Tai Lopez. At the event, approximately 70 entrepreneurs gathered to share their resources, connections, and general knowledge. We were broken into several small groups during the day to share our top challenges in business and seek advice and support from others in the group. What was the number one problem shared from people of all levels, which included those who had just started out and those who were making millions of dollars a year? They were all saying, “I work too much; I need to find reliable, quality help.” As entrepreneurs, we treat busyness like a merit badge. ‘I’m just SO busy with my business, there’s no way I can…’ Fill in the blank with something you have skipped out on in the past week or two because your email inbox was overflowing or some other project needed attention and you’re convinced you are the only one who can get it done. You aren’t. While you may think that you are doing well for your business by being the person who runs everything, you’re actually doing the opposite. When you are overworked, not sleeping enough, and not stepping away to give your mind and body a break, your brain’s cognitive function decreases. If you want to be a successful entrepreneur, you will have to learn to share the workload. THECONNECTMAGAZINE.COM