WE GET IT
Being a “Jill Of All Trades” is a SKILL, and often necessary for entrepreneurs, especially when you’re first starting out!
HOWEVER, it's not usually sustainable or fun!
You’re often working from fight or flight and the cortisol running throughout your body, as a result, is not sustainable for the long term.
But when you’re starting your business from scratch, you really have no choice.
You are the butcher, the baker, and the candlestick maker.
If you’ve committed to pursuing your business full time, the LAST thing you want to do are things like categorizing your business expenses, building out your website, or learning how to write an invoice.
But during this time in your business when you have no choice but to play all the roles, try to really lean into it and learn each aspect of HOW to run your business.
During this necessary (and tough) “Jill Of All Trades” time, you will know JUST what it takes to run all of these different departments so when you work your way to delegating them to a future assistant, marketing director, and bookkeeper, you can go from Solo "Jill Of All Trades” turned CEO "Jill Of All Trades" at a more macro level.
Remember, CEOs are not executing every task within the business. CEOs are the face of the business and ensure that all of the moving parts are cohesive and come together to ultimately achieve the overall mission.
BUILDING YOUR TEAM
The first step in transitioning from being Solo Jill to CEO Jill is building out your team.
This step is usually the hardest because, up until now, it’s been just you. You control 100% of the input and therefore 100% of the output.
So you have to find people you trust.
This can be tough since you will be trusting others with your vision, income, clients…your baby! But if you want to focus your time on what you love and what you're good at, some things have to be delegated.
Once you take a step back, you can identify what roles you need to fill.
Create A List Of Your Strengths And Weaknesses
Be compassionate with yourself when creating these lists!
When identifying your weaknesses, remember it’s all good!
1) Who says you can’t learn and practice and eventually be great at it!
2) There is likely someone amazing out there who LOVES doing what you’re not so great at and that you don’t necessarily enjoy.
After you've written down your strengths and weaknesses, write down what you dislike doing, but that is vital to your business.
Then, because you know all that needs of your business, see if you can create a position that pairs your weaknesses and what you dislike doing to hire someone who might be good at and enjoy doing them! HIRE HER.
Once you hire that person, remember that you are part of their personal and professional growth. Continue to stay curious about how they are feeling about their work to see what area of the business they can really thrive in while taking tasks off your plate so you can focus on your mission.
PERPETUALLY JILL
If you continue to be solo Jill, because there is only so much time in the week, there will likely be things that need to be pushed to the backburner, or that just don’t get done.
For example, for Yesi and I as financial advisors, we NEED to:
- Meet new potential clients
- Meet with existing clients
- Follow up on submitted business
- Fulfill compliance requirements
Some “extras" that aren’t as urgent, but would also increase our impact and visibility as a business owner:
- Marketing to your target market in your own voice
- Being in the community and building relationships
- Connecting with professionals
- Working thoroughly on clients’ plans to identify new opportunities
All of these "extras" would have an impact on retention, referrals, and therefore revenue into the business.
Some of these extras might not get done if you are constantly task switching and just trying to do the tasks in the NEED category.
The result of staying solo Jill is losing sight of your WHY underneath a mountain of tasks that don't light your fire and could ultimately lead to burnout. Which we hate for you!
OUR HEALTHY REFRAME ON BEING JILL
If you’re like me before I started working with my biz coach (Holly Pendergast, she is amazing, check the Trusted Professionals tab), you enjoy taking on everything. This ensures that you are an IRREPLACEABLE, VALUABLE member of your business, team, and no one can say that you’re not working hard enough.
I’m here with your healthy REFRAME: You are inherently valuable aside from your productivity.
Your VALUE is not reflected in what you produce since you are already inherently valuable. What are relief right??
That means we can confidently delegate to our team without feeling like it takes away from our worthiness and our value.
So, we can focus on working SMART, not JUST hard, by building out our team.
Try your best moment by moment, find your people, and remember that progress and growth are not linear.
And whether you're a solo Jill or a CEO Jill, we cannot wait to see what your journey is like!
If you're looking to delegate your financial planning, succession planning, and retirement planning, schedule a consultation with Yesi or myself to see if we're a good fit!
Connect with us on Instagram: @yesiandtori.