Self made entrepreneurs don't exist
I’d love to meet an entrepreneur that received ZERO help. Personally I believe the self made entrepreneur doesn’t exist, well perhaps maybe with the exception of a narcissist’s mind. Over the past 5 years I have met a variety of people who work in diverse fields and very few of them call themselves self made but there are still far too many articles, news clips and books obsessed with the ‘self made’ title. While I understand that your ego can encourage you to pride yourself on how much you have learnt and what you have done in business over time I believe the self made entrepreneur is exhausted, broke and hiding a deep hatred for the business they once loved. Sadly though, this is a reality for many business owners who believe that they have to do it all on their own in order to be successful.
Entrepreneurs cannot do it alone. They need a team. They need automations, they need systems, they need outsourced staff members, virtual assistants, casual workers, full time staff and they need coaches and mentors. One individual can wear 17 hats and do 17 roles but they cannot excel at 17 things and that is why a successful entrepreneur is never alone. When I was a teenager I learnt the value of working as a team playing soccer. You need the front line to shoot goals, the midfield to liaise with the front line and the defence including the keeper so that you can deliver the game plan as advised by the strategist who sees it all, the coach. I am glad I learnt the value of a team all those years ago because I don’t find business to be any different.
In business like soccer, you need the front line or your sales people to make the leads that result in sales. You need the middle management to provide the strategy for the sales people so they aren’t simply selling but rather delivering things on brand and in line with company values and the long term goals that it has. You also need middle management because they are like the voice between those who make the decisions that will protect the company from any negative losses, press or backlash. Then you have the upper management, they have a great understanding of how to be frontline members, middle management and how to make the necessary but hard decisions that will impact those in team, like going backwards to move forwards from time to time. Last of all you have the coach, the strategist who sees the entire picture not just about what is happening now but what will happen across the year, this is the Founder, Director or CEO. They are making decisions based on a long term vision, they are moving people based on how they will develop the company and themselves and they know that not everyone will necessarily like their decisions but they will come to know and understand why things were done at some point in time. There isn’t one member of the team that is more or less valuable because every member plays their part.
Just like a soccer coach, if the leader turns up disinterested and unwilling to be solution focussed they can expect their team members to carry the same attitude. Similarly if the leader turns up and behaves as if its their show and that the team doesn’t matter they won’t have loyal staff but rather staff that look after their own and are about achieving solo success not success as part of the company.
In magazines and self help business books, ‘self made entrepreneur’ is a phrase that we see a lot but we need to be aware of how this approach leaves our company. As business owners, entrepreneurs need to be aware of how their leadership style and their attitude towards their success empowers or disempowers the very bottom line of their business- whether it is profitable or not. It is incredibly important for every individual on the planet to celebrate their successes but success in conjunction with awareness enables us to create something bigger than us. It enables us to create movements, brand evangelists and legacies.
Personally I feel that losing the title of ‘self made entrepreneur’ can only assist an individual’s quest for success and its time we lose it more often. I am not self made, I have a team and I’m proud of it, not because I can afford a team but because I actually have time to create the business I want, work when I want and help people achieve their professional goals in the process.
Are you self made or happily team built?
