What Kind of Business Owner Are You?
Laura Renner • October 5, 2020
In this 3-part series, we discuss 10 things to consider when building your team.
- Series 1: What kind of business owner are you?
- Series 2: What type of team do you want?
- Series 3: Other factors (or the icing on the cake) to consider
What kind of business owner are you?
Grow or scale?
There is a difference between growing and scaling. Growing is that you want to get bigger. Scaling is you want to get bigger beyond yourself.
Choosing whether you want to grow or scale really applies to solo business owners with a specific craft for which they have trained. Think: doctors, attorneys, photographers, HVAC technicians, consultants, etc.
If you want to stay a photographer, then you can focus on growing. You want to be the principal photographer so in order to grow, your focus would be on automating or delegating as much as you can outside of photography.
If you want to scale, you would likely step away from photography at some point, hire other photographers, and focus on running the business.
If you want to stay focused on your craft/profession, you want to grow (or sustain). If you want to be a business owner of your craft/profession, you want to scale. Knowing this helps you determine what type of team to build (Series 2).
Working ON vs IN your business
Working ON your business means working on future stuff, like strategy, building workflows, and hiring. Working IN your business means taking care of daily stuff like sales, marketing, and operations.
As a solo business owner, you need to do both to stay in business. But you may prefer one over the other. Knowing which you prefer will help you determine who to hire for your team.
Time vs Energy
Instead of time management, think of energy management. Some tasks take less energy than others; some may even GIVE you energy.
Think of the age-old battle between cooking and washing dishes. Assume, in this example, that they each take 30 minutes. Even though they both take the same amount of time, one activity may drain you more than the other.
Think about the tasks and responsibilities in your business that drain your energy the most. Those are the tasks and responsibilities for which you should hire first.
3. Ideas person or Execution person?
In the Air Force, I heard a saying once, “he is all thrust and no vector.” What a way to describe someone who is bustling with energy, gets things done, but has no idea what to prioritize or will have the greatest impact!
In business I have come to view people as either an Ideator or an Executor. An Ideator is all vector and no thrust. They are great with vision and strategy but have trouble getting those ideas off the ground. Specifically, they may thrive with working ON the business at the expense of working IN the business.
An Executor is all thrust and no vector. They get stuff checked off their to-do list like nobody’s business but they have no idea where they want to take their business or how to get there. They thrive working IN their business but struggle to work ON their business.
If you are an Ideator, consider hiring Executors, such as a virtual assistant or an operations team. If you are an Executor, consider hiring Ideators, such as a CEO or a coach.
Knowing if you are an Ideator or an Executor helps determine what type of people to hire as you build your team.
In Series 2, we will discuss the types of teams you can build based on your workflows, desired levels of delegation, how to source workers, and common tasks to relinquish.
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