Road to success can be bumpy but not blocked

Last month I let you know the process my one-person business used to find just the right first employee. Now that I have that person we can really focus on refining our systems while growing this business by leaps and bounds and life is just peachy, right?

That was the plan, and we diligently worked the plan all the while waiting for the big windfall. And we promptly tripped going up the ladder of success and had to try again.

Here’s what happened. Carrie started her new job as my Marketing Assistant with enthusiasm and some great ideas. She brought a renewed sense of energy to Action Northern Colorado and together we were ready to take over the business world. I had developed a position description so she knew exactly how she would be contributing to the success of the firm.

The document includes:

n Purpose of the role

n Key relationships

n Required skills

n Personal attributes

n Key activities compete with performance indicators

n Training and personal development requirements

Creating the description forced me to think through what my expectations really were as well as defining what I wanted her to get out of the relationship. I have seen the results when my clients start new employees with this kind of guidance and know the power of a little planning.

I view Carrie as an investment in taking my business to the next level so she has to be enrolled and engaged in my vision of the future. Every person you add to your team should add to your profit. Telling them up front how they can do that will greatly enhance your success rate.

Carrie and I spent a lot of time together her first few week while she got familiar with the specifics of the job. To avoid this huge training time commitment with future employees, her main objective was to develop systems for each task she learned. Basically the process is for her to work three hours then spend one hour documenting what she just did.

Then came time for our first big project. The strategy we used to promote the event was successful in the past yet yielded no results this time. We even followed the marketing process much more closely because I had help.

We did all the things we just “knew” to be right – and it didn’t work. How did this happen? Enormous amounts of time and effort put toward doing things exactly “right” seemed to have been wasted. Together we had all the normal doubtful thoughts. Mine ran from “What kind of leader am I?” to “See, I should just do it myself.” Carrie’s thoughts were more along the lines of “Does she really know what she’s doing?” and “Maybe I’m just not cut out for this marketing stuff.”

Sound familiar? I have heard this kind of feedback dozens of times from entrepreneurial clients who have hired someone to take over part of their own duties. As I looked at their delegation challenges from an outsider’s perspective, it was easy to coach them through their self-doubts. This time seemed different somehow. It happened to me.

Thank goodness I have a coach to go to at times like these. She reminded me to evaluate what worked and what didn’t, change what needed changing, then try again. We did just that last week and had much better results than I ever had on my own. I’m proud to say we had our first of what should be many major successes together.

So what do you do when that big project, contract, or opportunity you’ve been hoping for – counting on or even banking on – doesn’t come through? Do you hang back to lick your wounds, feeling too shy or afraid to move forward confidently? Sometimes we triumph over great odds to achieve our goals, and sometimes “fate” intervenes to give us tremendous failure.

Persistence is the ability to keep moving forward in the wake of failure, in the midst of intense fear or fatigue, or even after reaching the summit of a long sought-after peak.

Persistence says, “When I have failed, I will use my remaining strength to take one step forward.” Persistence calls on you to ask for a referral from the client who didn’t give you the big contract. Persistence asks you to “strive, to seek, to find, and never to yield.” And, persistence invites you to do as Michael Jordan, who once said:

“I have missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I have lost almost 300 games. On 26 occasions I have been entrusted to take the game-winning shot… and I missed. And I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is precisely… why I succeed.”

Donna Beaman is an Action International Business Coach who helps successful business owners build the business they require for the lifestyle they desire. Contact her at (970) 232-3069.

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