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Nobody Loves Your Baby…

Filed Under: Business Musings

My friend Bob Pritchett wrote a great book called, “Fire Someone Today.” It’s a must-readfor new businessess. One of my favorite chapters is entitled, “Nobody Loves your Baby Like You Do!”

As any mother can attest, her baby is always the most smart, the cutest, the most athletic and the happiest baby… ever! Luckily for my Mother of course, this really was true in the case of me. As the photo proves, not so much for my brother … (ha ha. I’m kidding. Of course. ELF, as he is affectionately known, was a close second in the looks, athleticism and smarts category.)

Nobody can take care of a baby like its own mother. That’s the way it is with our businesses. You created your business, you stayed up long nights ensuring its health and you worry constantly about the long term future of your business. It’s up to you as the business owner to take care of your business, to design your long term strategy and to stay up long nights worrying about payroll.

Recently, I was at an evening networking event and chatting with three smart, outgoing sales reps. I was impressed that they were at the event on their own time and asked them about it. It turns out that their boss pays for them to go and network for the company. When I quipped, “Well, you better go get some more business cards then,” they hemmed and hawed about why it wasn’t necessary for them to actually do the work that their boss was paying them for.

Instead, they were content to sip their free drinks and have a nice social night on the town – all while being paid by the hour.

No one loves promoting and building your business like you do. There isn’t anyone on this planet that will work harder to ensure that your business is a success and there isn’t anyone who can replace you, the owner, at networking events, at conferences or just at staff meetings.

Yes, you can (and should) delegate. There are too many things for you to do at once. But when you delegate, it is vital that you lay out action plans for success. An action plan for success in the above example might look like clear goals and guidelines before the event (example: meet 10 people and have extended conversations with 3 companies that might use our services). This plan should be followed up with a meeting the next day to go over the expected outcomes from the social networking event. Delegating to the right people and ensuring that they have a plan to be successful goes a long ways towards augmenting the owner’s skills. But, it doesn’t replace you or your need to be the driver of your business.

What does this mean for you and your small business? It means you can never take anything for granted. It means that you’ll consistently appear to be micromanaging your staff. It means that you will not only stay up nights worrying about the company but you will think of strategy, review the week, and plan for the next month on your off-time. It means that the big heavy lifting, the “Where do we go from here? How can we increase our business?” is on your shoulders. No one knows your business the way you do. No one can gut-feel your industry like you do. Nobody can sell your business and your products as well as you do.

As my friend Bobsaid, “Nobody loves your baby like you do.”

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8 Comments

  2. I love the idea of having the ELF man write his own blog or have his own column at the Soap Queen blog.

    I ran it by him and his eyes got a little wide … I think he’s feeling pretty swamped with his job right now but I’m sure I can get him to contribute in little ways.

    He definitely has a lot to offer with his small business retail experience. =)

  3. ~Does Elf have a blog? I would really enjoy reading the scoop on the life of the soap boy. With all his soapy experience I am sure he would have an interesting perspective on management, soap tips and what not.

  4. Spotted Cow, Your gut to be a little OCD about the way the boxes are done. Little details matter – after all, how you do ANYTHING is how you do EVERYTHING.

  5. ~ A~M you were soooooo cute in that picture of you and your little bro. Thanks for all the inspiration.
    ~Andrea~

  6. What a wonderfully inspiring speech; thanks, A-M! I need to read this book too.

  7. I’m so happy because this is proof that I’m not OCD (or a “B”) with the way the soap boxes need to be stamped or the way the bars of soap are cut! Whew!!! This makes me feel soooo much better! Off to get this book right now…must have it!