How Staying in Your Lane Will Help Your Business Grow

As an entrepreneur what does staying in your lane means? There never seems to be enough hours in the day for you to complete all the tasks to help your business grow and to keep it running. There comes a time when the right choice is assigning some of these tasks to others, but you’ve built your company from the ground up and the thought of giving up control to other people may seem impossible.
Delegating tasks (and sticking to those decisions) means more time for business owners to focus on the big picture. Once you’ve accomplished that, there’s an important thing to remember: Stay in your lane!

What does staying in your lane look like? For many, it’s letting go of control, which can be difficult for business owners who have been involved in every element of their enterprise as it has grown. You fall into the belief that no one can do anything as well as you. Whether it’s talking to customers, posting to social media, or putting together a budget, you do it best because you know your business, right? But how long is doing everything sustainable? Burnout is a common complaint of business owners, and if you can’t let go of every aspect of your company, you’re on a path to experience burnout.

So how can you let go without your business falling apart? Check out these steps you can take to boost your business for success while redefining your role—and lane—as an owner.

Assemble the Right Team

As the owner of a new or small business, you may be doing everything at first. Bookkeeper, salesperson, inventory manager—everything falls on your shoulders. It can make your dream job of being an entrepreneur feel like a prison. Putting together a dynamic team will help you shift duties to others and focus on tasks and responsibilities that will help your business grow.

You have to trust your team to do what’s best in your business. Don't have a team yet? Don’t worry, you have plenty of options that will fit your business. You can bring people on board or assemble a team out of external service providers such as accountants and contractors.
To start building your team, make a list of 20 tasks you do for your business day in and day out. This next part can be tough, but look at that list and pick three things you would trust another person to do. Congratulations, you now have the foundation of job duties for your future employees!
If you’re ready to bring on employees, be sure to review our Mousetrap and Busy Bee Blueprint for acquiring and keeping the best talent.

Create Systems for Success

The key to successful delegation often lies in creating systems and strategies that allow your business to function without your presence. An owner being able to step away is a true test of a business’s sustainability.

Even after you have systems in place, it can be enticing to “help” your employees with their tasks because it’s your business and you know it best right? Unfortunately, being helpful isn’t always that...helpful. By cutting into your employee’s lane, you might be interrupting their system, which in turn slows them down and makes their job harder. It also may seem as though you don’t trust them to do the job, which can negatively impact their morale and performance.

If you have systems in place that are working well, leave them alone, and let your team do their job. The less time you spend helping, the more time you can spend on your own tasks and the business overall.

Work on Your Business, Not in It

In order for your business to grow, you should be working on it, not in it. So what does that mean? Take social media for example. If you as an owner are posting to social media, you are working in your business. If you are creating a social media strategy, you are working on your business. Working on your business means you are being intentional and strategic. That you are being proactive instead of reactive when it comes to your business operations.

Another way to look at it is if you’re working on your business, you‘re working on items that will make your business money. Going back to the previous example, creating a social media profile for your business, and posting every once in a while might generate some attention for your business. But creating a social media strategy that lays out a plan to create content that drives customers from your social media pages to your website or location will be more financially beneficial to your business in the long run.

Remember that list of 20 tasks you do for your business? Pick another three that are high-level items and make a time management plan to work on them. It might just be an hour a day or a few hours a week but reaching those goals can change the trajectory of your business.
As a business owner, there’s always something you can be doing better. By staying in your lane, you’re giving yourself the time and energy to improve your business and paving the way for future success.

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