“Where the (bleep) is that person on the org chart?!” The line went quiet. I was waiting for my client to continue as I recognized this question was more of a rhetorical question than one that she expected me to answer. I counted to ten. Slowly. And as I took a deep breath, about to continue with a follow up question, I heard her continue. “Matt. I don’t know where I’m going to find that person. I don’t know how I can afford that person! What am I going to do in the meantime? I mean, it’s not like I have the time or money to do it myself.” 

I was sitting in my office on a conference call, working with a client to help her understand delegation, empowerment, and how she needs to leverage other people in her organization. There are these gaps, I call them “performance detractors.” This is when people pick up the tasks of another role because “someone needs to do it.” At first, it seems like that’s a good thing; picking up tasks and doing additional work. However, if done over time, and without guidance, these new tasks end up detracting from the overall function of that person and whatever tasks they end up being held accountable for often aren’t accomplished because of these detractors. We had just identified another one. 

“Okay, Matt. Fine.” I must have waited just long enough for this entrepreneur to remember that she still owns the company. I mean…Her name is, in fact, one the door of her building. And. The buck stops with her. She was figuring out what I wanted her to figure out; this task is not the best use of her time and it’s going to cost some money to delegate. “I will do it. I know it needs to be done and I’ll do it. But we need to make a deal.”

This particular client often enjoys making “deals” with me. I honestly didn’t start it. She did. I haven’t stopped it. I tend to enjoy the mental gymnastics that happen when she proposes a deal with me. She likes mutual accountability and has seen tremendous success from it so far. 

She continued, “I’ll do it if you document it. That’s my deal. One month. You need to have this part of the role totally documented in a month so we can hire someone else to do it. I’ll need your help finding the money, but I think we can make it work. Deal?”

She tends to drive a hard bargain. However, this is the exact direction we needed to take anyway. I couldn’t let this entrepreneur fall into a bad rut and get deterred from her goals. If she can delegate this role, it will free up about 20 hours a week. This will allow her more time to work on her business and continue to grow it.

What I’ve found in consulting with clients over the past 10 plus years is that they often know the right answers to solve their problems. However, they can’t get there until someone slows them down, asks pointed questions that others are typically too afraid to ask, and then the solution becomes painfully obvious. This just happened.

This particular entrepreneur is going  through another pivot. She was going from running one very successful business to hiring a full-time business manager/operator so she can start another business. This conversation was the breaking point of her deciding to spend a little money (less than 5% of her annual revenue) to have someone else perform a needed function in her business, which, will free up 20 hours of her time and she’d make about 2x what she spends after the role become a well oiled machine. It’s a no-brainer when you position that way. Getting to that position takes finesse.

The frustration came about when we identified that time was holding her back. She had a million excuses… like many of us do. Some were legitimate. But it comes down to one simple question; do you want to continue to be frustrated or do you want to grow your business? She admitted that she hadn’t started this new business idea because she didn’t have enough time. I hear this all the time from entrepreneurs who are struggling to grow into their new phase of life; the phase of trading back money for time. Many employees trade their time for money. When these employees become business owners, it takes them time to reverse this thought process. What made them successful as an employee (taking on additional tasks, staying late, doing what needs to be done each day without complaining, etc) isn’t what’s going to make them successful as an entrepreneur. It’s quite the opposite.

Entrepreneurs going through The Great Business Pivot need to learn this: Other people have time, they want money, and they need direction. The direction is the job of the entrepreneur. The money comes from executing the business plan consistently over time. And, the end result is more time for the entrepreneur to continue to work on their business.

Surviving this shift isn’t quite as easy as it sounds. It’s a process. It’s a mindset shift. It can cost a lot of money. And, there’s no shortcuts. Just takes time, practice, and patience. 

Here are the steps on How to Survive The Great Business Pivot: 

1. Identify when you’re financially ready to invest in other people
2. Create a system of delegation, accountability, and empowerment
3. Cast the vision
4. Stay consistent in your messaging
5. Work your process

I talk about this process in my book, Taboo Business Questions. It’s in the Empowerment Chapter, which I’m honestly surprised that it’s the most talked about chapter. Of all the people who’ve read my book and given me feedback, this chapter is the one that they end up telling me was the “difference maker” for them.

Being a Vision Caster is the #4 Quality of “The Four Qualities of Empowering Business Leaders.” Here’s an excerpt:

A consistent vision is just as important as a clear vision. It’s confusing for employees when the destination changes from week to week or month to month. The consistent vision should line up to everyone’s expectation of performance.

By casting a clear vision to the team, you help them realize the destination—what everyone is working towards. At the same time, you also create a feeling in your team that you need each member of the team to get there. This feeling of importance and belonging is what helps initiate empowerment.

Casting the vision is just one step. And, it’s not the first one. Remember, the first step is “Identify when you’re financially ready to invest in other people.” Maybe you don’t have a bunch of money on hand at the moment. If you have good credit, a good business model established, then it’s just a matter of making the leap; securing the financing necessary to achieve your dreams.

This week, I helped two entrepreneurs secure a $3M loan to do just this. They knew they wanted to pivot in their business. They wanted to hire a team and scale their business. But they needed the money. So, we worked together and my team was able to support them in their endeavor. 

Our role as The Outsourced CFO Team for businesses that don’t have a full time CFO is to help them forecast their needs. A big piece of this is helping clients identify when it’s time to get financing to grow. If access to capital is holding you and your business back from growth, it’s time to contact our team.