Let me try to make my point again, if I may . . . one of the most destructive and growth-inhibiting small company environments is one in which the owner believes he or she is the “expert” in everything the company does–marketing, sales, accounting, vendor negotiation, product development, customer service, operations management, human resources, and so on. In my 18 years of working with owner-operated businesses, I have never met an owner that is good at all of these functions. Not once. In fact, the “Ying and Yang” principle (for every strength, there is a weakness) dictates that owners who are REALLY GOOD at two of these things will ultimately be REALLY AWFUL at two others. The problem is, most company owners do not have enough self-awareness to figure out (and ultimately admit) they can’t do everything well. And until they do, their companies will always be growth-inhibited.

Thanks for writing, and good luck to you!

- Eric -

SB owners NEED to learn how to do more themselves. This allows a company to stay lean, agile, and better prepared to change directions or adapt if needed.

When you add bloat to a company (more employees, more tools, more processes) you only open that company up to more burden, more loss of time, and more resources being used. If your company ABSOLUTELY HAS to hire another employee, then fine. Growing bigger is fine where it is warranted, but trying to stay as lean as possible, I think, is the right move in small business.

–Cory

This post was mentioned on Twitter by TSCB: [ Best of Article ] 5 Mistakes That Kill Small Company Growth … http://tinyurl.com/o8a7nx … Comments Open, Retweets Welcome…

Thanks for the reply–and feel free to share your blog posting with the rest of us. I’d love to read it.

Good luck to you!

- Eric -