"I Need to Let Go, But I Still Hold On"

“The more you let go, the more you can grow!”“ I'm constantly preaching this important concept to small business owners. They often respond, “I know, I know, but I have trouble letting go of tasks. I have excellent people in place. The systems and procedures are set up. I just need to let people do their jobs, and avoid jumping back in. I understand this in my head, but I still hold on."

To me, it is apparent the problem is mostly in their noggins. Here are some interesting comments, see if any strike a chord with you: 

-- “It’s my work ethic. I’m just used to working 80 hours a week. I’m the one staying late to empty wastebaskets.”

-- “I feel that I must work harder than everybody else, to set the example.”

-- “Doing these low-level tasks is in my comfort zone. Putting myself out there into strategic business development scares me – even though it’s what I know I must do.” 

-- “I’m so used to serving customers and doing billable hours it’s hard to focus on growth needs. After all, that’s just overhead!” 

-- “I really like working with the customers. It’s where I get the juice in my business. I don’t want to give that up completely.” 

Have I described you yet? Add your own rationale to this list. 

Small business owners have a variety of personal beliefs that hold them back from growth. To deal with these growth stoppers, you must work on your own habits and attitudes. (This is a major theme of my book, “How to Grow Your Business without Driving Yourself Crazy.”) 

The Cost of Holding On. If you were in the same situation, we'd sit down and look at ways in which you are impeding your own growth. I’d have you list all the things on which you spend a lot of time. Your duties should depend on your position within the company:

C.E.O: Strategic growth. Creating the next thing. Communicating the vision. Building the growth team.

General Manager: Execute the strategy. Make the operation hum. Hit the targets. Guide the managers and supervisors.

Supervisor: Work closely with the troops. Give direction and correction. Keep within budget and on schedule.

Worker: Do all the tasks. Get it done. Nose to the grindstone.

You probably do things at each level. But can you shift the preponderance of what you do up the scale? 

Once you list your tasks in these categories, then write beside each what it would cost you to hire someone else to do that task. That’s a real eye-opener! It shows you exactly how much it costs you to hold on to these old habits. 

Suppose you said the following to me: 

-- “Why should I hire another assistant manager at $50,000 when I could handle that function a couple of days a week? That money comes right off the bottom line.” 

I would respond, “Hiring that manager would free you up to focus on selecting and setting up your next location, and bringing in the investors. You could hire someone to do that; they might cost you $250,000. Instead, hiring a manager and doing this yourself saves you $200,000. And this is the most important thing for you to be doing.” 

There’s more: Hiring the manager frees your schedule. You no longer have to be on the floor. But you still get to be on the floor when you want to. You choose the times and situations. 

And yet more. Part of what you are buying with that $50k is more time off. You both brag and moan about how many hours you work. What would you do with a few extra hours a week – a few more weeks off each year? 

Growth, Profit, and Time Off. The fastest growing, most profitable companies I work with are run by people who spend lots of time away from their businesses. Buying trips to Italy. Vacationing in Costa Rica. Setting up a new overseas branch. Building a house in Hawaii. Coaching their kid’s team. How do they do this. They have excellent people, good systems, and they maintain needed oversight. Overcoming the belief that they must be there all the time, they look for ways to let go and insist that their people handle things to their satisfaction. 

How to Let Go and Still Hold OnSwitching from a habit of "holding on" to one of "letting go" can take awhile. You must overcome attitudes that have served you well for much of your life. This is why it is useful to work with someone outside of yourself – a coach or one of our business owner groups. 

You can start by answering these questions: 

– What is most important for you to do to get where you want to go? On what should you focus?

– What do you enjoy the most in your business? E.g., schmoozing with customers. You are in business to do what you want to do. So even as you spend more time on CEO tasks, hold on to some of this. 

– What management responsibilities can you let go of, e.g., putting together numbers from daily operations? 

– What do your people think you should let go of? Where do they think you get in their way? 

– In these areas, what oversight do you need to maintain? How and when should operational reports be presented to you? How much time do you need for these reviews? 

– In what remaining administrative tasks do you get involved? Write the job description for an executive assistant who could handle every one of these things – perhaps better than you can. 

Need Help? If you're not already in the Business Group, you may want a friendly voice to help you talk these things through. Call me: I’ve been working with companies in these situations for over 20 years. 

Mike Van Horn 

415-491-1896 

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