Monday, December 30, 2013

Curse of the One Man Band: Challenges of a (Very) Small Business Start Up

The Curse of the One Man Band: 
Challenges of a (Very) Small Business Start up
by Marc Alan, Br4nd New Media

Starting anything new in this fast paced ADD world we live in is a challenge. It takes a certain ability to hyper focus not to give into a thousand distractions at any given moment: the phone, the dog, the girl, the doorbell, your email. 

On one hand, you're trying to remain focused on achieving your overall goal, making tangible strides forward, and on the other hand you can't ignore the mundane forever, and do have to answer your email. And your social media--haven't updated that in ages. You have to pace yourself. 

So while you keep your eyes on the big picture, and let's face it--you're an idea man. It's what you do-- remember that the smaller tasks are the ones that are going to make or break your company. This is where being a one man company is extremely difficult. This is the curse of the "One Man Band."

The answer of course is to delegate. Build a team. Find people who are willing to work hard because they want to be a part of something new. You can't  assign the work without giving people a piece of the pie, some ownership of the dream, unless you have the money to actually pay a few people. 

It's another case of one hand or the other. One one hand you don't have a lot of money to pay out, and on the other hand you're not sure if you want to give away any pieces of your big idea. Well from where I stand, even 51% of a viable company is worth a lot more than 100% of a stake in the dream of a one man band.

And if you do have some money coming in, maybe hire some folks to do your social media, handle your public relations; hire a CPA to handle the business account. 

And for Pete's sake--answer the doorbell-- it's cold outside.

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