Behind the Scenes – 4th Quarter, 2019
So what happens behind the scenes of being a small business owner? Right off the bat, I’ll tell you that it has it’s shares of ups and downs. More often than not, it’s a learning process every step of the way. Some days you’re on cloud 9, other days you’re wishing you had stayed in bed. The rest of the days? Well, those fall somewhere in between the clouds and bed!
Everyone’s definition of the word “success” is completely subjective and open to interpretation. Success for some is the acquisition of their dream vehicle. For others, it may be a long sought promotion at work. And for still others, it may be marriage and family. Honestly, if I can sync my laptop with my phone and the signal receiver at my Afterburn class, the day is a huge success! (It’s the little things. 🙂)
In a tribute to all business owners, aspiring business owners, and all of their fans, once a quarter, I’ll write a “behind the scenes” piece about some particular aspect of my own business. My hope is that it’ll give you a bit more insight about me, the people I work with, and the (sometimes) seemingly profound complexities of business ownership. If something I write can help someone or provoke further discussion, then I’ve accomplished my task with “The Art of Random.”
Behind the Scenes with My Team
This first “behind the scenes” is about teams. You see, I’ve been in business for over 8 years now. Over the course of that time, my team has gone thru a number of changes. For the better part of the past 8 years, it has been Team Me: Party of One. More recently, that team has expanded to include Registered Dietitians, Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialists, Chiropractors, Massage Therapists, and so on. Behind the scenes, there are graphic designers, web developers, SEO specialists, technology specialists, and more.
Most recently, we did a re-brand involving a new logo, color scheme, and fonts. The project started in February with a target completion date at the end of March. In the end, it wasn’t finished until late-May. So what lessons have I learned? There are so many I could probably write a book! But for the purposes of this post, I’ll write about 4, in no particular order with a random #5. And to be clear, these 5 lessons are by no means an exhaustive, definitive list!
Lesson #1
Find and work only with people who have a similar mindset as you. This applies to motivation, ambition, work ethic, attention to detail, and so on. If they own their own business, even better! It will probably do you no good to enlist the help of someone who isn’t as motivated or has as much ambition as you.
Lesson #2
Be one with your team. Really collaborate with them. Draw on their expertise. Involve them in the decision-making process where necessary. My team of colleagues are business owners in their own right and so they are equals in our work together. Different, but equal.
Lesson #3
Communicate. For all of the modes of communication we have available today, it’s a wonder any miscommunication can still take place. Have an open and TWO-WAY line of communication. It does you no good to be the only one talking and not getting any responses (see Lesson #1).
Lesson #4
Remain accountable. Setup checkpoints along the way. Share these checkpoints with your team and be sure you’ve got them on your own calendar. This will help you stay accountable to your team (and vice versa) not to mention remaining accountable to yourself!
Random Lesson #5
This one is totally random, but be sure you always, ALWAYS backup everything you do. For example, I’ve had a website and I’ve been blogging since 2012, yet you’ll notice my blog posts on this site begin only this year. The last full backup I ever did of my old website was from late-2016. 😭 Despite their assurances, my hosting company did not obtain a proper backup of the old site before we switched over earlier this year). However, I’ll be resurrecting old blog posts over time so keep an eye out.
And that’s it for this edition of “Behind the Scenes.” There’s much more to share, but first we have to get thru the holidays! On that note, we wish you and yours the best during this holiday season… stay tuned!
