Am I the right guy to run a medium-sized business?

Dear Aunty B,

Yes, I had too many drinks at the Christmas party and I’m being maudlin. I love chasing the deal and getting it over the line, thinking of new products, bringing in new clients. But I find the detail boring and I put off attending to it which really annoys my staff.

I was talking to my accountant at the party and he pointed out that for a small business we spend very little on developing the business. The point is I don’t know how to, although I know what all our problems are!

How do I skill up to run a business with double the number of people?

Help,
Canberra

Dear Help,

Well, it might have taken you a few Chrissie drinks to get there but well done! You have faced up to the inevitable: you are not the best person to lead the business to the next stage.

Now there is nothing wrong with that. In fact, understanding this is a great compliment to you. Many start up entrepreneurs end up driving their company into a hole because they should not be at the wheel once the company reaches a certain size.

What you have done is work out what you are best at: and few people are good at start ups. Few people have the stomach for the risk or the eye for the opportunity. Few people have the resilience to keep going in the early days and get it to the stage you have.

So what you need to do now is this: recognise that you need to bring in a general manager. If possible promote someone from within and get them to run the show. Their job is to build up all the bits that make up the whole. They need to establish a great management team, build IT, marketing, finance, sales, customer service and all the other bits that keep the place whirling along. And of course they must build these for the future – not for today.

That is a big job and it is a detailed job. It takes time and concentration. This does not sound like the job for you. But what you can do is understand the challenges ahead and appoint the right people for the roles. Don’t recruit in your own image! Recruit someone who drives you nuts because they raise the fine details and are good at executing strategy.

Good luck!
Your Aunty B

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