I am Too Busy for any Help!
I was attending a conference last week and met a business owner who had been in business for many years. As we were sitting and discussing world affairs, he told me that he was so busy that he could not service his existing clients, he depended upon 3-4 key clients and had not developed any system or process where he could enhance his business.
As we talked, I asked about getting some assistance, perhaps a part time employee who could help do some of the mundane work, if that was what was needed. No, that would never work– our business owner was the only one who knew what to do. Well, what about using a firm such as ours, to help identify areas where improvements could be made. Again, no value. Interestingly, no matter what suggestions I made, there was no value!
Now, as I left and thought about this answer, I realized that this particular business owner failed to see the “big picture” of business operations. He failed to see the big picture because he was solely focused on the micro parts of the picture that he understood, not realizing that help, other perspectives or professional consultation would be most valuable to him.
No matter where you business is in the maturation phase of operation, i.e., start up, initial growth, full growth, mature, declining, always obtaining an other perspective will provide you with ideas and perspectives that you may not have previously studied or understood. None of us is as smart as all of us! When you engage the services of a professional consultant who has special training in identifying those problems that many business owners face, you are able to realize that you are not alone in teh challenges of operating a business.
Will this particular business owner seek external assistance. I doubt it. Will he continue to be successful? I don’t know. What I do know is that with his current mode of operation, it is only a matter of time before he will need some assistance. The question becomes will he too far gone to benefit from any outside assistance?
