6 Reasons Why Building A Business Alone Is The Worst Idea
Yes! It sounds amazing to hear compliments like ‘You are a Jack of All Trades.’
Companies would want to hire employees who are capable of handling multiple tasks at the same time. People idolize Elon Musk or Steve Jobs for being the celebrated single champions of their show.
But do you think Tesla and Apple are one-man-show businesses?
Do you think Elon Musk and Steve Jobs single-handedly took care of running, managing, promoting, and selling their products while maintaining the financial stability of their companies?
Or tallying Balance Sheets and spinning financial statements every year?
No, there, you are wrong! If you study how Tesla works or how Steve Jobs ran Apple, you will realize that most legendary entrepreneurs work with an incredible team of young talented people.
That’s the secret of their success.
They rely on their team and delegate responsibilities instead of running a one-person show.
You cannot build a business alone; forget about running it successfully for years. There’s so much you can do at a time.
You have just one pair of hands, ten fingers, and one brain to work with. And twenty-four hours on the clock.
It would help if you had a couple of hours to eat, take care of your health, spend time with your family, and get at least six-seven hours of rest. So, technically, you can manage to pull out 13-14 hours and invest in your business.
Even then, you will not be able to do enough to keep the business going.
You are not a Superman or an Iron Man in disguise.
Maybe you can build your own ‘J.A.R.V.I.S,’ but your J.A.R.V.I.S might not be able to meet clients and crack major deals.
Let’s get real here – running a business is not like baking a cake.
There are various tasks to take care of and other roles to play. Yes, as an entrepreneur, you have to sport different hats, but you cannot do everything yourself.
How much you do will never be enough. You might survive, but you will never make a profit. And your business will never grow.
Unless you plan to run a small tea shop, you can’t stay happy with a half-baked cake.
Running a business alone will be like baking a cake and leaving it half-done. Why?
That’s because –
#1. You can never become the Master of Everything
Yes! It is great to hear that you are the Jack of all Trades. But it is hard to become the Master of Everything. Or the Master of One.
As an entrepreneur, we expect you to have proper knowledge of how the market works, the current trends, who your competitors are, and your potential buyers.
You should know a little about coding, marketing, and selling.
But are you an expert coder? Or a star designer?
What are your skills as a developer?
What do you know about content?
How can you design an ad copy that sells?
Yes, you can learn all of that. But do you think your competitors will wait for you to understand the game?
No, they are already placing their cards on the table to beat you in the race.
So, having the support of a competent team can save you from losing the competition. Also, delegating some of your responsibilities will relieve you of stress.
Instead of juggling multiple roles simultaneously, you can focus on your strengths and play around with them.
That will help your business eventually.
#2. You will not have time to focus on opportunities
Juggling multiple roles at a time will leave you stressed and drained.
You will not find enough time to focus on your business or grab opportunities to expand your company.
You will not handle major projects because you will not have enough time to do so.
And, not having a competent team to back you up, you can end up losing essential clients.
Also, in times of emergencies, be they personal or professional, you will not be available to address them.
That’s because your hands are tied with zillion other tasks.
You must shift your focus from paying important bills to handling client calls. Your tasks will keep piling up, and your life will end up in a complete mess.
That’s not good for your business or your personal life.
#3. You cannot cut once and measure twice
To err is human. Right?
Committing to errors is not a crime. That happens. And for the same reason, we have editors who proofread content before it is published.
Imagine what would have happened if a popular magazine started publishing articles with thousands of typo errors and mistakes.
The magazine would have lost its popularity eventually.
Now, imagine when you have to cater to every single task in your business, and you will be vulnerable to mistakes. Your brain is already too exhausted to notice minor errors. And you have no support to help you to figure out those mistakes.
You can be poor with numbers. So, your financial statements will never reflect the accurate picture of your business – whether it is profiting or losing thousands of dollars.
You have no option or time availability to cut once and measure twice.
You cannot go back to check your reports, content, ad copies, or contracts. You have to rely on what you have delivered on the first go.
That leaves enough room for errors.
Eventually, it is your business and your reputation that will pay the price.
#4. You will lose the benefit of collaboration
Two brains are always better than one, you know?
Starting a business was indeed your idea.
But, running a business single-handedly is one of the significant blunders entrepreneurs can commit themselves to.
You might have a fantastic idea to make money. But the same idea might not sound equally unique to another person.
You might come up with an innovative marketing strategy. But the same approach might not sound as unique to others.
Or, someone else might be able to bring more innovation to the table. You are depriving your business of such opportunities by working all by yourself. That’s because your ideas might sound outdated to the younger generation.
Instead, you can innovate your business process through collaboration and teamwork if you hire a team of young talents. Your team will bring fresh ideas to the table and find more accessible ways to get things done.
More importantly, you can delegate most of your responsibilities to your trusted team members and focus on more productive tasks that will bring real change to your business.
Sounds fair?
#5. You will not be able to learn
Having struggled for years trying to do everything single-handedly, from cleaning shoe racks to adjusting balance sheets, you are left completely exhausted and drained.
So, you will give up easily when your business starts going downhill. Two or three failures consecutively will break your confidence and compel you to give up entirely.
You will not have enough energy left in you to analyze your mistakes and learn from your failures. The dream of becoming a successful entrepreneur will remain just a dream for you.
That’s what happens to most sole entrepreneurs.
Inability to learn from failure and try again put many such startups into cold storage forever.
There is no one to boost your lost confidence. Or help you discover your mistakes and support you to stand up and fight again.
Yes, failures are part of our existence. Every entrepreneur, including the legendary ones, faced many failures during their entrepreneurial journey.
One thing that kept them going is an incredible team – a team of winners who inspires you to go back to the drawing board, learn from your mistakes, and strike back again with fresh strategies.
You will have the benefit of second opinions and fresh perspectives. And, together, you will figure out the winning formula.
#6. You will never grow
All of the above points boil down to the fact that building a business alone will significantly hinder your success.
Forget about success; your business will never grow.
To grow a business, you either have to get more clients, increase your products/services, or raise the cost of each transaction.
Getting more clients or increasing your products entail more work for your business and more responsibilities for you. In short, grow your business’s outputs.
Do you think you have the time and bandwidth to accomplish your goals? Or the energy to do so? Taking care of every single job will create more bottlenecks for your business. You will always be stressed, which will make you commit more errors.
And, before you realize it, your whole business will fall apart.
Instead of growing, you might have to pull down the shutters.
Don’t you think outsourcing most of your tasks to your team might save the day for you?
If you didn’t think about it, maybe you should start thinking now! Because under no circumstance is it humanly possible to run a business all by yourself.
You simply can’t. The sooner you accept the truth, the better it is for your business.
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