Stop Doing It Yourself: Move Beyond the Solopreneur Struggle
Let me share with you a story:
Sarah, a passionate business owner, runs a small design shop and does everything on her own— emails, invoices, clients, everything. At first, she feels empowered, like she’s free from the chains of corporate America and is finally her own boss. But over time, Sarah finds herself working long hours and struggling to keep up with demands. Deadlines are slipping, clients are growing frustrated, and Sarah feels anxious with every email she receives.
She struggles to even get out of bed in the morning and wonders what she can do.
Sounds familiar? That’s because we’ve all been there.
Like Sarah, you might’ve thought you had everything under control— that your freedom was secured as soon as you became your own boss. But as your business took off, you realize you’re not yet ready. You only got 24 hours in a day, and you need 26 just to keep up.
And by doing everything yourself, you limited your business growth.
At some point, you recognized the real issue: you became the bottleneck of your business.
You realized this and are looking for ways to fix it.
So let’s continue with the story: Sarah realizes she can’t do it alone. She realizes she’s becoming the bottleneck that’s holding her business back.
So when Sarah hires her first team member, an assistant, it was like a breath of fresh air. She delegates easy tasks to her assistant—like responding to clients and writing invoices— which allows Sarah to focus on the bigger picture.
As her team grew, so did her business. Together, they sped up the process, improved client satisfaction, and created a sustainable workflow. Sarah finally understands that building a team wasn’t just about growing her business; it was also about building something sustainable and reclaiming her sanity.
So how did Sarah do it?
Well, here are five takeaways from Sarah’s story you can use to grow your business:
5 Lessons To Grow Your Business
Avoid Being the Bottleneck: Don’t do it alone. Trying to handle every aspect of your business alone is like hunting for two rabbits at the same time: you won’t get anything done. You have to trust other people to help you get the job done. No other way around it.
Recognize the Importance of Delegation: Hiring a team and delegating tasks to them allows you to focus on what truly matters instead of being tied down by day-to-day operations. You don’t need to send every email to every client when you have someone who can do it much faster and much better.
Invest in Building a Capable Team: Surround yourself with skilled people who share your vision and are as passion-driven as you are. A strong and capable team helps you create a stronger, more resilient business.
Value Systems and Processes: Jocko Willink, a retired NAVY Seal and American author, famously said, “discipline equals freedom.” It sounds ironic. But when you think about it, it makes perfect sense. By establishing clear roles and setting up an effective system, your business can operate smoothly, even without your constant involvement.
Prioritize Your Well-Being: Overworking yourself leads to burnout. You need to build a team that not only grows your business but also gives you the freedom to maintain a healthy work-life balance.
What Did Our Podcast Guest Have To Say?
Deme Yuan, co-founder and Chief Operating Officer at Fr8relay, in our latest episode shared with us her realization of all the things that are happening in the background when running her business.
“When you’re running something, you have so many plates in the air and you’re spinning all of them. [At the same time that they’re spinning], you’ll need to be taking out the trash. There’s so many things going on.”
Deme later went on to say she appreciated her previous bosses for all the different tasks they were juggling— even going as far as wanting to write thank you letters to all of the people she used to work with.
Running a Business is Like Driving a Car
One of the things I do with my clients is I force them to stop and reassess. It’s easy for you to focus on constant production and want to keep moving forward. But when you’re hitting your limit and are on the verge of burning out, you need to stop.
I’m not saying you should shut your doors and close shop for the day. But just stop and ask yourself:
Is your business going off course?
Have you stepped back and evaluated your strategy?
Are you doing things you could easily have someone else do?
Are you working longer than you should be?
Think about it, as a responsible car-owner, you don’t drive a car and keep driving it without ever checking the tires, do you?
Running a business is exactly like driving a car. You need to stop, check if something feels wrong, and try to get it fixed as soon as possible. With a car, you can either try to fix it yourself or, if you’re overwhelmed with where to begin, take it to a mechanic to get it fixed for you.
With business, it isn’t any different: try to fix it yourself or, if you’re feeling lost and don’t know what to do, ask for help and let someone else guide you.
At TrustBuilt, we do just that.
If you’re feeling lost and don’t know what the next steps are, then let’s talk.
Schedule a free call with us and we’ll help your business get on the right path.
Because your job as a business owner is to work on your business. Not in it.
