“Jack of all trades, master of none” turns up more than 2 ½ million hits with a Google search. The phrase is the title of a book, a CD, a blog, a TV sitcom, and I’m certain a number of other things.
Thinking about this old standby as it relates to small independent family business owners led me to the realization that being a jack of all trades is nothing to brag about. Remember the second half of the saying: “master of none.”
Haven’t you often wondered why you always feel one step ahead of the customer, the bill collector, the janitor, and one step behind a good night’s rest?
You should read The Technician’s Addiction. Any addict will tell you the cold turkey method of habit changing is painful at best, and deadly at its worst. The same is true for those addicted to small business ownership.
I know because I’m recovering daily from the illness.
Might I suggest you check yourself into recovery and let the game of life come to you?
Constant work in the trenches doesn’t make you a real business owner; it makes you, as the story goes, a dull-boy (or girl!)
What’s the boldest, most frightening move that a business owner can make? It is to stop being the “answer guy.”
It’s time to realize that in order to do necessary strategic work, you’ll have to break your addiction. Addicts often spend weeks away from the office, focused completely on resolving life’s most important problems.
I’ll bet that after you go through the DT’s of withdraw, you’ll realize your employees’ potential, be able to embrace your financial challenges, have a clear vision of your market, re-define productivity, and know for the first time in a long time the business you are really in.
Sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly these promises are being fulfilled among us every day.