Author
Updated
3/31/2015Released
4/15/2014Skill Level Intermediate
Duration
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- Let's talk a little bit about the future. At some point your business is going to near the final stages of being a small business and start to evolve into a medium, or even a large-sized business. The question is: who is going to lead this business at that point? Before we talked about the org chart and the difference between the founder and the president. Odds are, you have been filling both roles. The founder is the visionary, and the president is the person who makes the business run.
But, when it comes time to transition into that medium-sized business, really it's time for you exit one or both of these positions. Why is that? Well, you have learned certain skills that have helped you succeed as a small business owner, but, a different set of skills is required for a large or medium-sized business, and there are people out there who have those skills. They have that expertise, and it's much better to hire someone else, rather than you put this burden on yourself.
I've often seen businesses succeed at that point much better when someone else takes over. The question is: where does this person come from? There are two basic options. Outside the company, or inside. Let's talk about hiring outside the business. There are two basic ways to go about doing it. You can hire someone yourself by putting out a job listing, going through the interview process, all of that, or you can hire a professional recruiter, sometimes called a headhunter. These people have connections and knowledge and experience to quickly locate a new leader for your company.
You can go either way. Personally I lean toward a professional recruiter, because they're going to save you a lot of time. It's just gonna cost you a little bit more money. Now, when you actually make an offer to someone, you're going to be balancing experience versus someone who is newer, but it's going to cost you more money and you're going to have to develop them long-term. You can go either way. Of course, experience is better, because if they've worked in another medium-sized business, that's going to shorten the learning curve considerably, and it's going to allow you to exit quickly.
Now, what about inside the company? Personally, this is my favorite way of developing leadership for your business. Why is that? Part of it is because these people already know the business. They've been in it for a long period of time. It also demonstrates that you're loyal to people, that you bring them up through the ranks so to speak, and typically these people are more passionate about the business. But, if you recruit from inside your business, understand this is going to take a lot more effort on your part.
It means that you'll want to have a leadership development program that you've put together that you're putting people through on a regular basis. Now, big businesses have those development programs in place. You're going to need to put it in place yourself, and it's going to be a long-term process where people are attending seminars, and they're going to training, and they're watching courses on lynda.com to help prepare them for leadership when the time comes. Now, when is that time? It's really up to you, but part of it is, when your business can afford it.
You need to make sure you've got the money to pay that kind of salary, and also, the business needs to be stable. It needs to be to that point where it's pretty much running without you having to be there. A great way to test that is, go on vacation. Do it a couple of times. Go on an extended vacation and see what happens. That's sort of a testing group for finding out whether your business is ready to be handed off to someone else. Ultimately, you want to make this your goal: not to be the person at the top of the organization chart.
It's much better to have someone else run it. That way, you've created an asset. You've created something that can give benefit to you in the long run, but it doesn't require so much attention on your part.
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Management Tips
with Todd Dewett7h 50m Intermediate
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Introduction
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Welcome48s
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1. Finding Your Most Valuable Customers
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2. Setting Fees and Prices
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3. Solving Problems
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4. Working with Family and Friends
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Managing family and friends2m 59s
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5. Creating a Business Plan
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6. Starting a Hobby Business
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7. Discovering Your Most Valuable Service or Product
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8. Bootstrapping Your Business
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9. Creating Culture
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Building company values2m 34s
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10. Getting Organized
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Managing your time4m 45s
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11. Marketing with Social Media
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Deciding on your channels3m 11s
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12. Business Entities and Compensation
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13. Small Business Accounting
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14. Finding Your Marketing Message
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Refining your message4m 56s
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15. Documenting Business Systems
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16. Balancing Work and Life
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17. Increasing Sales in Your Business
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Developing your sales system3m 15s
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18. Testing Whether You Have an Idea or a Business
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19. Hiring Service Providers
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Selecting and hiring vendors2m 51s
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20. Hiring Employees
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Crafting a job and pay range3m 58s
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Interviewing candidates7m 25s
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21. Motivating Employees
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Developing people and paths4m 24s
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22. Seeking Capital
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Crafting your pitch5m 40s
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23. Working With Difficult Customers
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Working through complaints6m 11s
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24. Letting Employees Go
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Making a smooth transition5m 58s
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25. Generating New Sales Leads
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26. Maintaining Focus as a Business Owner
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Avoiding opportunity traps5m 26s
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27. Thinking Like An Entrepreneur
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Getting rich your own way4m 16s
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28. Dealing with Competition in Business
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29. Avoiding Blind Spots
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30. Creating a Customer Experience
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31. Networking for Small Business
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32. Building Accountability into your Small Business Culture
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33. Dealing with Business Failures
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34. Improving Sales Systems
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35. Giving Back
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36. Setting Goals for Small Business
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Measuring your success3m 31s
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37. Channeling Your Motivation
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Why you deserve success3m 8s
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38. Building a Small Business Exit Strategy
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Exit strategy options5m 7s
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39. Building Customer Loyalty
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The role of customer loyalty3m 47s
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40. Building Employee Loyalty
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41. Structuring a Small Business
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42. Branding Your Small Business
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Crafting your company story3m 39s
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43. Dispelling Big-Business Illusions
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44. Understanding if Entrepreneurship Is Right for You
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45. Managing Remote Employees
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Leading from a distance3m 11s
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46. Crowdfunding Your Business
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Understanding crowdfunding3m 29s
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47. Cultivating Entrepreneurial Curiosity
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48. Growing into a Mature Business
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Putting it all together5m 50s
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Video: Considering future leadership needs