I Can Do That

Most people have a sense of, “I can do that”, to some degree. It’s central to our survival. It’s healthy, positive, and it engenders confidence. It can even fill the heart with hope.

But every coin has two sides. Only this one is more like a double edged sword – diamonds on one side, daggers on the other.

The ‘I can do that’ diamonds are invaluable. They can provide enough fuel to build and grow any entity…from relationships to multi-billion dollar businesses.

The daggers on the other hand are destroyers. Mostly because they are subtle and silent. They tend to have a slow burn approach.

Welcome to Club Terror!
Speak to any entrepreneur who has successfully built a business from the ground up and they will tell you the golden rule is to employ resources after you need them. Save your cash and keep the burn rate low. The fear of failure is terrifying and so most of them end up working 5-9 instead of 9-5 to get ahead.

Subsequently, they learn to do everything themselves – ‘I can do that’.

The Trap
The problem for some members of Club Terror is they become so accustomed to doing everything themselves it becomes habitual and they never (or forget) to let go. They trap themselves in their own organisation. They operate one man committees and every decision has the same outcome – ‘I can do that’.

Worst of all, if they can’t do it themselves it usually doesn’t get done at all. Too many trust too few, or none at all. Some of its ego too.

They think it’s easier, faster and cheaper just to do everything themselves and consequently their business never grows beyond themselves. They can’t scale (grow) because they don’t delegate. They build their own glass ceiling and stunt their own growth.

Some investors are exactly the same. In order to trim costs to the bone they delegate every job to themselves – ‘I can do that’.

Eventually tiredness creeps in and it sucks the marrow out of whatever spirit is left in the organisation. ‘I can do that’ becomes ‘I hate this’. But it’s too late, the slow burn started way back.

The Trigger
To bust out of this trap you need to know when to pull the trigger. The good news is it’s easier than you think but you need a good metric to manage the decision making process. If you can measure it, you can manage it.

One of the best and simplest metrics is to know your hourly rate of pay.

Let’s say you earn $80,000pa (before tax) and you work an average of 2,000 hrs pa. Therefore your hourly rate is $40ph. (Don’t worry about getting the hours exactly right, just make sure you use the same figure every time to get an apples vs apples answer).

Now suppose, you have some basic admin which needs to be done every month. If you wouldn’t be willing to pay someone else $40ph to do the same task then you shouldn’t be doing it either.

You don’t have to delegate or outsource everything in the beginning. Just begin with one task and then build from there. A good bookkeeper or property manager is a great place to start. The right one is invaluable.

Many people think that good technology or having the right infrastructure in place makes an organisation much more scalable. It does to an extent however you still need someone to drive it. Most of all you need to know when to pull the trigger and delegate.

Delegation is the ultimate leverage in any entity.

In my opinion, the biggest sticking point for most businesses and investors is not having the right decision making process in place to manage growth. Decision making can be a massive time suck if you don’t have a consistent and methodical approach.

“I can do that” is a quick and easy decision, but not necessarily the right one. If you’re not working on your best idea then you’re doing it all wrong. (Pardon my bluntness).

Do what you do best, delegate and discontinue the rest.

Anyone can do that.

Have a great week!

Adam

Back Paddock – I did a country trip recently to see a few clients and didn’t realise I was parked out the front of a church until I saw a blokes T-shirt. It said, “Quick, look busy. Jesus is coming”.