Three Skills For Business Success

The Meeting

I was meeting with a client, Robert, and we were discussing the progress of his succession plan. He has a daughter, Wendy, who is being groomed to take over his business in the next few years.

He told me that "She knows the operations inside out. She is very particular and gets frustrated with the staff when they can't or won't do the tasks the way she wants. Dealing with the staff can be overwhelming sometimes."

This reminded me of a book I read many times.

Lots of us start our business because we have a skill and we think because we can do that skill or provide that service we can run a successful business. In his classic book "The E-Myth Revisited", Michael E. Gerber talks about three skill sets required to run a truly successful business. The business owner must develop their skills as a:

1. Technician
2. Manager
3. Entrepreneur

We went on to discuss a few points discussed in this book.

The Technician

This is the skill or mindset of the doer. I know how to do this or that, and I am good at it. Therefore I can run a business doing that. The welder (Joe) decides, "I just need to buy a truck, put a welder on it, then I will start my own business."

If he is good at his trade, then word will get out, and Joe Welder will be busy making a living running his own business. At this point, Joe has a job and has replaced his one boss with many bosses (customers), each making their demands on him.

This scenario is the E-Myth, the Entrepreneurial Myth: Joe owns his own company but is not an entrepreneur.

He is an incorporated employee, like many oilfield consultants in our Alberta economy. Many small businesses never progress past this point. That's fine though. You can earn a good living, and the best part is you never have to worry about managing staff.

The Manager

"Manager" is the next progression in skill and mindset that the Technician must take to grow their business past simply being a job. Can you oversee and supervise operations without doing the work yourself?

If Joe the welder gets busy, he thinks, "I just need to hire another tradesperson like me, and we will be able to do twice the work!" At this point, like it or not, good at it or not, Joe needs to become a Manager.

He needs to supervise another person, ensuring their skills are adequate for the job, ensuring their attitude towards the job matches his own, and dealing with all the emotions that come with it.

When employee inexperience, mistakes or poor attitude cost Joe time and money, he needs to step in, stop what he's doing and train or correct the employee.

Joe needs to demonstrate correct procedures to avoid mistakes. At some point, he realizes he needs to document all his processes because the employee keeps missing steps. Then, what the hell does he do about the poor attitude?

Managing people is one of the trickiest aspects of being a business owner, whether it is staff, partners, clients or suppliers.

We have all grown up in a world surrounded by other people. You would think we would all know how to deal with one another in a professional and constructive manner.

We don't!

We were never formally taught. We learn from our experiences.

What we don't learn, we keep "experiencing" until we do, or we just avoid those experiences. Another must-read classic along these lines is Dale Carnegie's "How to win friends and influence people." Perhaps a topic for another day.

My client, Robert and I both started our businesses from scratch. We were the Technician and then slowly started to hire staff. We grew into the Manager role one employee at a time. His daughter Wendy was thrown into a business that was already fully staffed, and they were set in their ways.

She was overwhelmed. It's completely understandable and expected, given that she had never had a job with a Manager role before.

Robert needed to be reminded of what it was like for him and realize Wendy's situation is even more challenging than his was. Wendy needs to be coached, mentored, and encouraged to develop this skill.

The Entrepreneur

The third skill set and mindset the successful business owner must cultivate is that of being an "Entrepreneur." Gerber describes the Entrepreneur as the visionary and creative force of the business. Always looking forward, thinking about how to improve, grow faster, and serve the customers better. All this while anticipating potential pitfalls and changes in the economy.

My client, Robert, has embraced the entrepreneurial spirit in his existing business and is already developing a clear vision of how his next business will look.

I'm really looking forward to seeing what he will do next.

Summary

All of us have each of these skills to some degree. Wendy is already stretching her entrepreneurial muscles and has shared her plans for the direction she will take the company when given the chance.

I gave Wendy our book summary of E-Myth to help her on her journey. Then I strongly recommended she buy the book and read it over several times. Then a year from now, read it again.

Becoming a true Entrepreneur is a long road. It requires us to grow personally so that we can drive the growth in our businesses.

Books are an excellent source of knowledge on any and every topic imaginable.

They open our minds to what is possible, show us others who have done it, and provide us with steps to make the journey ourselves.

Then it is up to us to take those steps and put into action what we have learned.

In addition, you should seek others who have already travelled their path and are willing to share their knowledge and experience with you.

Let Us Help You

You and your business are unique. There are no one-size-fits-all answers for us business owners. We have to figure it out for ourselves. That said, you don't have to do it alone.

We've carefully listened to business owners for more than 30 years. We've helped them resolve their issues and lessen their stress as their business ally.

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