Why Are We All So Hell Bent On Doing Things The Hard Way? And Is That Wrong?

“When you work, don’t waste time.  Work all of the time you work.”
Brian Tracy

 

Why are we all so hell bent on doing things the hard way and is that wrong?

As a business coach I get brought in at the beginning of business or in the middle of a business needing some major assistance.  Both are a ton of fun.

One of the things about business owners is they tend to be really independent minded.  How else do you think they had the courage to venture out on their own and start a business?  They needed some moxie. 

Like so many things that independence is a strength seventy-five percent of the time.  It’s the other twenty-five percent of the time that can create situations that are so damn costly, wasting time and money and maybe even costing the business owner their company. I have witnessed a lot in the name of “I can do this myself”.  I can also own that I have been and still am at times a card carrying member of this club. I am not proud of it, it tends to bring about my most frustrating moments in business. Those moments when I say, “How the hell did this happen?”, the answer is typically not what I was hoping for. “You did this when you thought you didn’t need to ask for help or didn’t accept the help that was offered.”

What if the best results come from co-creation and collaboration? What if you could double or triple your profits?  What if this could be easier?

I had the chance to catch a class yesterday about how they create soundtrack music. It was really lovely to hear the history and all to learn how that has evolved.  Do you know who makes most of the movie picture music these days?  Hans Zimmer.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZ3V3tJvGjM

After hearing people speak about working with him and then seeing a couple of interviews by him, I could see why his business was thriving.  He was co-creating with so many different people. He never goes into a project with a firm answer as to how it has to be when it is done. Instead they have an end goal of enhancing the movie with music that matches the theme and story of the movie. He then looks around and finds the people who can help him make that happen. Then he sends them off a little idea of the concept and from that they create something new and interesting. Good leadership is good leadership and that was one of the things he was demonstrating. He knew that he could create the solution for the client, he just goes into the project not sure exactly how that is going to happen.

Running a business can be as easy or as hard as you want it to be. If not spending a dime and doing it yourself is your goal, you will accomplish that, but it will cost you in time and mistakes (money), it just won’t be upfront money.   It will be funds to fix.

Last week I got an email from a client I am coaching, they wanted a phone number that was not their cell phone number for the business.  So they were setting up google voice. It happened to be on a progress email and they had never said this was something they were going to do. I said, “Stop, just stop”  I have seen at least twenty clients do this and the repercussions are terrible and thousands of dollars to fix later on,

Her response was, “but I don’t have any money and I just need a number, what is the big deal?

I then went step by step over all of the ways this has gone wrong for people.

For under $30 a month you can have a phone number that is portable, easy to share and will always be yours. Maybe we should do that? I loved her response, “I didn’t know it was that cheap, I have been googling and trying to figure this out for weeks.”

I turned it into a great conversation about how as being a new business owner, there are going to be hundreds of things you don’t have answers to and your best approach is to toss the question out to your trusted advisors and let them support you and make things easier. I am so proud of her. The next day I got an email about signage at her office and it went to four other people that are on her advisory board and the answer she got back were good solutions and people added more details throughout the day. By 5:00 pm she was ready to make a more confident and sound decision than she’d been wasting time or energy on it all day.  Doesn’t that make more sense than the other way?

Maybe, just for today, look at each new project that comes your way as an opportunity to ask for help and co-collaborate. It would sound something like this in your head, “Who could help me solve this?  How much do I think that would cost?  How quickly can I get them on board and start? Why don’t I do that now?

I have confidence that together we can help save us from ourselves and become happier and more profitable business owners.

JoyGenea Schumer
Business Owner, International Neurodiversity Coach and Speaker

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