Part 4 of our Lessons From Richard Branson series looks at building a team and surrounding yourself with people who can help take your company to the next level.
“As much as you need a strong personality to build a business from scratch, you also must understand the art of delegation. I have to be good at helping people run the individual businesses, and I have to be willing to step back.
The company must be set up so it can continue without me. The companies that look after their people are the companies that do really well.
I’m sure we’d like a few other attributes, but that would be the most important one.”
Most businesses are run by solo-entrepreneurs. The entrepreneur does the selling, the production, the capital raising, the partnerships, and is even the company bookkeeper and janitor.
One of the biggest challenges entrepreneurs face is building a business beyond themselves. It is crucial, however, to delegate and bring on help if you hope to grow your company because there is only so much one person can do.
In the startup phase you will end up doing most of the work yourself but as soon as you start bringing in revenue you should take a good look at where you are spending your time. Is your time being used up on high value projects such as landing new business or are you doing low paying jobs that can be easily outsourced?
Once you start bringing on additional help you can leverage their work to take your business to the next level.
Many new entrepreneurs feel like they cannot afford to hire employees but fail to realize that you do not need to hire a full-time person. Start by offering a part-time position. The first person I brought on in my company was working for me for one hour per day doing admin work that I did not want to do (and could not afford to do if I wanted to grow my business).
An easy way to find people is online at websites such as Elance. Here you can post projects that you need to get accomplished and people will bid on them. You can review their qualifications, cost, and previous experience. Also look at the people around you who might be good fits for your business – if only for part time work.
The sooner you can start bringing people into your business to help you, even if it is only for an hour a day, the sooner you can focus your time and energy on projects that will be more valuable to your company.
Evan Carmichael
