4 Things You Need to Know About Life as a Small Business Owner Before Starting Your Company
I was driving one of my staff to a client on-site meeting, and during our drive, they asked me a question: "Is it hard for you when somebody leaves [the company]?"
I've never had a staff member ask that question. It felt like someone finally acknowledged the behind-the-scenes work of maintaining and sustaining a business.
Plenty of social media clips and articles illustrate how it feels like to be an employee in today's economy, but what about the story of the small business owner? The narrative now pits employees against corporate employers who have gotten greedy with inflation. Still, the missing element in the story is the small business owner, who's likely paying themselves the least in the company and working 80 to 100 hours per week to make ends meet. They're in the middle, feeling the squeeze, so I thought it might be worth the time to shine a small spotlight on what it's like to be in their shoes.
Running a business is lonely because the other 'stakeholders' in the company show up to work expecting things to work. How did that desk get there? The office space? The software on the computer? The other staff they report to or manage? They rarely think about the work needed to get all these elements in place and who gets the fun job of handling all these behind-the-scenes items.
“Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.”
Here are 4 things you need to know about life as a small business owner to keep yourself sane.
You're a cook missing an ingredient in your recipe. All. The. Time. Do you know when you're throwing everything into the pan or pot and realize you're missing a key ingredient? Let's say you're missing white truffles for a pasta dish. It would add the right amount of flavour and aroma, but you also know it's outside your budget. So you must get creative and use a substitute that gets the dish 80% there.
This is similar to when everyone tells you to hire the best talent without considering that people who fall into the 'best talent' category often aren't going for small business prices. In some cases, the best talent may be overqualified for the small business role you're offering, but they may be a better fit when your company is in its growth phase.
Being an owner means you have to juggle all the different ingredients, being flexible enough to switch out items and make do with what you have. One of my favourite quotes of all time is Arthur Ashe's saying, 'Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.'You're the jack of all trades because you have to be. It's like you're coaching a soccer team, but you must also step in and know how to play the different back, midfielder, and forward positions; sometimes, you even find yourself in the goalie role. Of course, you're also the coach, ensuring you constantly train your team so they can flow together better without you. Also, under the coach role is the responsibility to keep every member’s job challenging and inspiring while attracting ‘pleasant’ clients (that pay within a reasonable timeframe) to generate enough revenue to keep the lights on. This is similar to any situation where you have three criteria and know the most you can do is satisfy two out of three.
If you want to ask why we can't just hire more people so you can delegate the work to them, please see #3 below.Most things are happening just in time because of cash flow. For example, as you're growing a small business, you can often only afford to do just-in-time hiring. This brings me to another pain that not everyone sees; we need to fill the position as fast as possible when someone leaves. All business owners know we SHOULD have redundancies, but which small business can afford to invest capital if they only have enough work to fill 50% of a new team member's time? The output doesn't justify the fixed input. That's a waste of money better used elsewhere. So, before the workload reaches 75 - 80%, it's hard to justify the additional spending to have that additional staff sitting around doing nothing. Yes - this does translate to a heavier workload for the existing staff until sufficient additional revenue justifies the new labour expense.
I've met entrepreneurs who say you should 'drink before you're thirsty.' In other words, bring on people before you need to hire. It's great that they have the extra cash to do so, but let's assume you don't in your business. An alternative could be to combine the two approaches to keep an open, continuous funnel to engage new candidates before you're ready. Recruiting takes time, and the traditional model of posting the job when you have the need puts your company in fight or flight mode; you have to hire NOW, or else things fall apart. A more flexible approach could be to continue conversations with candidates and even try out project-based or part-time work to allow both sides to determine if the parties work well together before signing an employment contract. This puts you closer to candidates you've proven could take on the job, and when your business is ready, you can only hope that they are ready to sign on to the team.Being in management is going to hurt if you're a people pleaser. You will likely experience this the most when letting someone go. You aren't just firing a staff member because, to the rest of the team, you may be firing their friend or bestie at work; others may breathe a sigh of relief, maybe because that person was offloading their workload onto them. The point is that everyone in the company has a different experience with the person being let go, and it could be good or bad. They'll have their opinions of your actions. You should have given them another chance. You should have told them this in previous check-ins. You should have offered them a promotion.
Hindsight is 20/20, and other people are entitled to their opinions. Realizing this might help so you don't feel as horrible, but it won't change the fact that you're the one who had to wield the blade to cut them loose.From the employer side, we often come from the perspective that we're firing select members to build a better team or give the team better resources. Firing someone means we need to fill the position, and I can tell you if we go by the 80/20 rule, 80% of entrepreneurs hate having to backfill a position because they would much rather be creating and building.
This comes from the perspective of someone on the hiring side, and the above is what we THINK we're trying to do for the team. We've seen enough turnover in small businesses to know what happens when we surround an A player with B and C players. They get tired of carrying everyone's weight, and they leave. It's nice for a while if you're good friends with a C player and they're nice to you, so you don't mind slowing your workflow to help them out, but stretching this out over a year or two would the same patience you had on day 1 be intact on day 632? From observing turnover in small businesses for the past decade and a half, the answer is a definite no.
It’s normal to feel that everything isn’t perfect and exactly how you want it, especially when running a startup or small business with your own capital. You’re juggling many inputs into your business, and everything’s a tradeoff. Just know that you’re not crazy. Many other small business owners have to make tough decisions daily, whether changing suppliers, replacing staff, salary freezes, layoffs, or cutting their own salary to keep staff on the floor. It’s not easy, but it’s a phase that most business owners go through unless they’re lucky enough to have enough savings or raise capital to start the business with everything they need.
All the best to you on your entrepreneurial journey! Stay safe and stay sane.
