You're starting a company...Now what?

In my experience as a business consultant working with entrepreneurs who are in the beginning stages of starting up their new company, at some point in time you've asked yourself the question, "I'm starting a company, now what?"

You are the everybody of the company. The CEO and President, Sales & Marketing, and CFO all rolled into one. Often it is hard to manage all of those hats. You can't do everything all at the same time. One must purposely switch your hats during the day. How do you do this? Well, using a tool like Outlook, you have to block out chunks of time in the day to work on those specific areas.

I'm working with a chiropractor right now, and today she said, I want the marketing part of my business to just operate on its own, I really don't want to have to do that one day. Yes, we all want to run a business that is 100% referral or word of mouth based, and the chances of that happening are very slim. One must always be marketing your business. But that is the topic of another blog...this one is about how to manage all of the different hats you wear and how to do that is to block out times in the day when you will be working on CEO stuff, or CFO items, or Marketing, etc. Then, when those times come up in your calendar. You must switch gears and get in action on those items that require that attention. If you don't do this, critical actions one must take to have a business thrive will fall through the cracks and not get acted upon.

If you are the everything of the company, there are probably some roles that you are less interested in or skilled at. For now, you must be accountable for working on those areas as much as you would the areas you are interested in. As your company grows, those areas you feel are not your strengths and are your least favorite, that is the area where you would make your first hire. Let someone else do the thing you like the least (just make sure they are well suited for it).

So, as you are working on the growth of your company, make sure that you schedule your time for all of the hats because for now, you are the one and only.