When you’ve got big ideas, big energy and big dreams. It makes sense to channel it all into a business. It may seem overwhelming to decide to become a business owner, but it’s one of the most exciting things that you can do because you could end up working for yourself and thrusting yourself into success. You’re the CEO, the customer service Rep, the accountant, the social media manager, and the coffee maker, and you’re doing everything all at once. Most business leaders fail in their first year, and most of those ones that do fail in the first year are the ones that don’t ask for help. Here’s the thing though:
You don’t have to do it all alone.
It’s one of the biggest lessons that new business owners tend to learn on the go. And you don’t have to learn it the hard way because we’re telling you about it right now. Asking for help is not a weakness in your business. In fact, it’s a very smart and savvy business move. Getting the right kind of support early on can save you time, reduce your stress, and help your business to grow quickly. Here’s why it’s totally OK and very smart to get help with your new business.
- You are not an expert in everything. We hate to break it to you, but you are not going to be the expert of everything you ever do. Sure, you might be great at what your business does. Maybe you’re an amazing Baker, or maybe you’re a talented designer. But that doesn’t mean you automatically know how to build a website or write legal contracts or run Facebook ads. That’s where the professionals come in from the marketing agency you use for your SEO, to the accountant and the copywriters, there will be people who specialize in exactly what your business needs, and they can probably do it better than you can. That’s OK, you’re trying to learn everything yourself. But it’s going to be time consuming and exhausting. So why not lean on people who already know what they’re doing?
- Getting help can help you to grow. If you pigeonhole yourself as the master of all but the leader of none, you’re not going to get anywhere. When you build something amazing, you need people to know about it. And if nobody knows about it, it’s going to be very hard to grow, which is why you need to get a marketing agency like we mentioned earlier. Marketing is about so much more than just social media or having a good logo. The right marketing agency can help you to figure out what makes your business special from the get go, and then they can make sure that the world knows about it too.
- You’re going to give yourself time to focus if you delegate. If you’re going to try and do everything in your business, you’re not going to get much time to focus and build it to what it needs to be. When you delegate tasks, whether this is by hiring freelancers or working with agencies, you’re going to get back hours of your day that you didn’t have before. It’s with that time that you can focus on what really counts, and that’s growing your business into something amazing.
- You will avoid massive burnout. Burnout is very real, and it’s especially real among business owners. When you’re trying to do everything yourself and pulling yourself in 16 different directions, you’re going to end up burning out much faster than if you were just trying to raise a business. When you take on the right help, you can avoid this burnout and stop yourself from flaking too quickly.
- You gain fresh ideas when you work with other people. You’re going to open your business up to new perspectives. A good marketing agency, for example, may come up with a branding idea that you’ve never thought of. Tapping into expertise is going to make all the difference to the way that your business is pushed forward and how it becomes successful. It’s very easy to become stuck in your own bubble when you’re building something on your own, but when you ask for help, you bring in fresh energy and creativity that can move your business forward faster.
- You’ll make far fewer mistakes. We all make mistakes when we do something for the first time. That’s the whole point of learning is to fall down to that you know how to pick yourself up. But there are some mistakes that can be costly or time consuming to fix and you just don’t have the time. By getting help with your new business, you can avoid any of those pitfalls and make sure that you stay on your two feet. These are not just helpful things to do, but they’re smart investments in the future of your business.
- It really is OK to do it. There is a myth out there that entrepreneurs should be able to do it all, like asking for help is a bad thing or it means that you’re not serious in what you’re doing. But the truth is, the most successful business owners know how to build a team, ask questions, and bring in experts when they need them for support. It’s OK to not have it all figured out, because nobody does. The sooner that you start reaching out, the faster that you’ll learn and the faster that you’ll thrive.
If you want to be brave, bold and exciting, then starting a business is a good place to begin. There is never any shame in asking for help and it might be the decision that you need to make for your business to be strong. Take a deep breath and reach out but remember that you’ve got this. This is your business and your business alone but that doesn’t mean you have to grow it on your own.