I have been a business owner in several types of businesses over the last 38 years. I have managed anywhere from a handful of employees and customers to as many as one hundred employees and thousands of customers.
I would like to share some of the realizations I came to over this time, as well as some helpful advice. I would say one of the biggest misconceptions about operating your own business is people think you do not need to do any of the actual work, but that you are managing others to do it for you. Especially as you are establishing your business, you need to be doing the bulk of the work.
In some cases, this means you are doing all the work to get things off the ground. If things go well, then yes, you will be sharing or delegating responsibilities over time. You may put in an enormous number of hours during the infancy of your business, but you will know every aspect of running it.
Your goal is to be a successful leader, teacher, and business owner. You will always be teaching or training, and it is vital to know how to interact with employees. Not everyone learns at the same pace, manages difficulty in the same way, or interacts with people in the same manner as you might. It is important to have patience and know how to oversee problems as they arise, deal with them maturely and tactfully, and do the best damage control possible.
The hardest part for me to learn as a business owner was to not take everything so personally. As a woman in business, this was a huge challenge. Per the Taylor Swift song, I wanted to be “The Man.” This took a couple of decades to completely come to terms with for me. Everything was personal to me. I did finally come to the realization that in most cases, it was not about me, my business, or how I managed things. It took a long time to be confident enough to know I was making the best decision after I sorted through everything to get to the facts.
I had no problem admitting when I was wrong or made a mistake. I learned to admit I was wrong even when I was not, because in some circumstances, it was a way to reconcile and move forward. Somewhere along the way, we have lost that ability. You can sell the greatest product in the world, offer the most wonderful services, but if you cannot tactfully and maturely deal with your employees and customers on a face-to-face basis at any given time, things will catch up with you.
Our egos tend to get in the way, and this creates drama, stress, and discord. Your customers and employees should trust that you handle the hard stuff. This creates loyalty. It creates a balance in your business between employees and customers. You will have those crazy instances that hit you out of nowhere, but do not take those hits personally.
Know that you have put in the time, weighed all the pros and cons, and sorted through the drama. Be confident in your decision. It took me too long to figure this out on my own. As an incredibly wise businesswoman told me in my 20s, “Do not make the rules of your business for 20% of the people. Focus on the 80% who follow the rules already.”
That wisdom has certainly carried me through almost 40 years later. Trust that you are doing what’s right and 80% will follow. All you can do with the 20% is lay controls in place and get serious when the situation calls for it. It takes consistency and blood, sweat, and tears to bring you a sense of balance and reward in your life and your business.
