I Don't Need Help - Part I

<p>In the last episode, we talked about how to implement follow up systems in our businesses.</p><p>Today I wanted to go a little different direction and talk about a subject that I think most of us are guilty of at one time or another - getting tunnel vision in our businesses.</p><p>I mentioned in a previous episode that I had a great business partner for many years in building our company, SalesDouble. There is definitely a synergy you get from being able to bounce ideas off of a partner or partners in business. Unfortunately, most partnerships don’t last and sometimes end in a pretty nasty divorce, so there are definitely pro’s and cons for partnerships.</p><p>The model of how we would deal with employees for the next 15 years or so - was to figure out what needed to be done from our perspective, and give orders. It was very much a military style top down management with almost no input from the people doing a lot of the day to day work.</p><p>My business partner and I would meet 3-4 times a week, work on strategy and planning and come up with our directives for the employees. You hear a lot in business circles and with leadership training, you should delegate, delegate, delegate. However, what they are talking about is delegating work tasks that you shouldn’t be doing, and it’s a one way relationship, meaning, you have an activity you need someone to do, and you tell them what to do, and that’s the end of that. Of course, good leaders are open to and invite feedback, but it’s easy to just tell someone what to do and get it out of your mind so you can focus on other things.</p><p>We ran our company this way for many years, until I was forced to change. Sometimes in life, it’s the moments when things appear to be falling apart or you face incredible challenges that you come up with your best solutions and ideas.</p><p>The day after the 4th of July in 2017, I came to work in the morning as usual and my business partner didn’t show up. I later found him at home where he had suffered a fatal heart issue. Obviously