In last week’s post, Surround Yourself with Smart, Trustworthy People, I talked about building teams of smart, trustworthy people around you. In two LinkedIn groups that I post this blog to I got comments that I thought I should address here – especially as I thought I had covered the points they raised in last week’s post! Also, I had a meeting this week with an individual where the subject of networking for leads came up, and which tells a similar story to that of the comments.
Recently, on behalf of a couple of new business owners I had met, I reached out to a past client because I thought they could provide some insight to and even connections for these new individuals. This week, I got an email back from the past client in which they made a statement which I think is very apropos to the content of my last few blogs.
The past client said that the individuals should “surround themselves with smart, trustworthy people. You can’t do these sorts of things alone. Building a strong team around you takes time, a great deal of belief, money and tenacity.” They clearly hit on my recent themes of “you can’t do this alone” and “get good people on your team”; but, in just those few words they touched on so much more.
Over the last couple of posts I’ve been discussing the importance of building a good team, with different kinds of players with different skills. I heard a story this week that I thought made the point from the other side of this picture; i.e., why you shouldn’t try to do everything and why you should focus on your strengths.
In my last post I discussed the importance of building and managing teams to help accelerate the progress of your business. This week I was reminded of one of the type of team members that is often overlooked by entrepreneurs and small business owners.
So, here I am, doing what I often do on a Saturday morning – watching Barclays’ Premier League football matches (at least as I do during the BPL season); and being reminded of the importance of teamwork, with the occasional input of individual brilliance, to the success of any team – a lesson for all those solo-preneurs out there.
So the big financial news this week was that Facebook filed it’s IPO. On Thursday, if you watched the financial news channels, you might have been forgiven for thinking there was no other financial news that day.
As I listened to the news reports and read the articles in The New York Times, I was struck by the little nuggets behind the news about how to be the founder/CEO of an entrepreneurial endeavor. Not that any of this is new and hasn’t been said a thousand times before, but it always seems worth repeating. So, I thought I would share with you what leaped out at me. Perhaps you saw/heard some different things that could also be “lessons from Facebook for entrepreneurs”.
This week I talked with an entrepreneur (no names; no pack drill!) who isn’t happy with the speed with which their business is progressing (come to think of it I’m not sure I’ve ever met an entrepreneur who was happy with their speed of business progress [superemotions file=”icon_biggrin.gif” title=”Big Grin”]) – and, actually, my conversations were with more than one such entrepreneur.
This got me thinking about weaknesses exhibited in the businesses of first-time entrepreneurs, specifically during the period before they get to revenue. My conversation with this individual covered most of the topics that I’ve detailed below; they are ones that commonly come up in conversations with first-time entrepreneurs (I’m sure you can come up with others!!).
In many cultures this time of year includes a ritual of gift-giving.
When you think about your business, what gift(s) are you giving to it to make 2012 the best year it can be for your business? Or, don’t you think your business deserves the same love and attention that you give to your other family members?
Maybe you are starting a new business in the New Year; what gifts will you bestow on your new baby to give it the initial boost it needs as it starts out on the road to success? And, what gifts – gold? frankincense? myrrh? – might others bring?
We are approaching the end of the year and the beginning of 2011.
As humans and business owners, we imbue this point in time with probably more significance than it deserves. After all, wouldn’t it make more sense to start a year based on some real astrological event – like the summer or winter solstice?