During my retail manager days, I was at the checkout counter on the phone when I overheard one of my team members helping a customer who was interested in purchasing a pair of exotic fish cowboy boots.
If you’re familiar with these boots, the skin is very soft and so yes, they are very prone to scuffing, but that’s with most leather really. It just ultimately adds to the character of the item. There was a little scuff on the back of one of the heels and the customer was asking about a discount. The associate started to get a little nervous and said that he would have to check with the “Big Cheese”.
When I heard that, my first thought was “Really? Who even uses that phrase anymore?” Plus, I’m lactose intolerant!
He was a seasonal hire and fairly new to the company so I understood that he wasn’t confident enough to make those decisions. So I quickly signaled to one of my Keyholders to help him with the customer. I was able to continue helping the customer I was on the phone with, and the Keyholder was able to further assist the boot customer. I didn’t have to jump in. Everything kept moving.
Why I Reflected Back on This Specific Moment
I had always found it very important to empower my team to be comfortable making decisions and doing right by the customer. To trust their judgement. To handle decisions without needing me for every little thing because I knew that at the end of the day, I couldn’t manage effectively if every decision had to go through me. If I was the only point of approval, everything would crash and burn.
This is the part that many of us overlook.
There are definitely pros and cons to working in a corporate setting but one of the pros was that there was always structure. A leadership structure. Layers of support. It was designed that way so that we, as managers, could focus on the business acumen side of things.
This same dynamic shows up in many corporate businesses all the time. But when we’re solo, it’s a different story.
Where This Shows Up In Your Business
Too many of us solo professionals fall into the ‘Chief Everything Officer’ trap. We’re the Big Cheese, sure, but we’re also the only ones doing the heavy lifting.
We unintentionally become the BIG CHEESE in the wrong way.
We feel that everything has to be checked, approved or touched by us before it moves because we feel it’s our responsibility, which to be fair, to some degree it is.
But overtime all this creates is dependency, and a business that can’t breathe unless you’re in the middle of it.
How To Get Out
So what do we do instead?
- We decide what actually needs our approval (and what doesn’t)
Set clear boundaries for what only you handle and let the rest go.
- We create simple decision guidelines
For example: “If it’s under $X, handle it. If not, check with me first”
Final Thoughts
What’s one decision in your business right now that doesn’t actually need you, but is still waiting on you?
That’s your starting point.
The goal isn’t to remove ourselves completely, but for us to stop being the single point that everything depends on. If everything stops with us, we haven’t built a business yet. We’ve pretty much just built a job that only we can run.
Shamayne Brown is a virtual assistant and the founder of Camp Virtual Assistance.
She works with solo professionals and small business owners who are ready to invest in their business and need the support that she offers.
She specializes in creating email newsletters as well as other admin and creative design tasks.
Click here to connect on LinkedIn.
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