First of all, I wanted to give a big THANK YOU to the contributors on this. If you have great advice you got or want to share something you’ve learned that you think every entrepreneur should know, please share it with me! Email me: Matt@SVBusinessConsultants.com

This first part of this blog series comes from a piece of advice that came from multiple entrepreneurial minded people. Dr. Michelle Kilbourne, Chair of the Leadership and Business programs at Judson University in Elgin, said she thinks that all entrepreneurs should know this, “You can’t be all things to all people. Pick a focus / market and cultivate a distinctive”. Echoing her sentiments, a CPA in the Fox Valley Area, said “Stay in your lane.” and then went on to say “ You cannot do everything. You may try, but you can’t. Surround yourself with the right people to do those things you should not be doing and pray for the wisdom and clarity to determine what these are. Get help with the things you cannot do, sooner rather than later.”

When launching or running a business, it can be tempting, for one reason or another, to try and do everything yourself; managing the books, doing the marketing, hiring the people, generating proposals, fulfilling orders, placing orders with vendors, etc. There’s a lot of work to do! However, what Dr. Kilbourne has alluded to is to know your strengths and stick to them.

If you’re the “great technician” in the business, able to fulfill all the orders, serve all the customers, take care of all the patients, know that is your role. Then, hire people or delegate tasks accordingly so you can stay focused on where your strengths are.

If you’re the “spreadsheets and financials” person in the business, stick to that. Hire a marketer, a business development person, and maybe get help with the technical part of your business if that’s not part of your business.

If you’re a “talented marketer” in your business, find someone you trust to help you stay organized with your books, do the business development activities, and any other areas that aren’t a core part of your business.

This advice directly aligns with a chapter in my book, Taboo Business Questions. Successful entrepreneurs know how to delegate to others, surround themselves with talented people, and stick to the tasks/part of the business they’re good at. It’s the Focus Chapter in my book.

What do you need to stay focused on? What have you delegated? Can you relate to this at all? I most certainly can. That’s why I’ve had to surround myself with a team of talented people who all have special traits that I just don’t. I know what I need to stay focused on, and I let my team do the rest!

What about you? What do you think every entrepreneur should know? What advice do you wish you could have given yourself when you were starting out your company? Share it with me and I might feature it in a blog series!