Читать книгу No B.S. Business Success In The New Economy - Dan S Kennedy - Страница 21

The autonomy you develop will stand you in good stead when your business hits some of the rough roads. Which it will.

One sad truth about business is that you never finish with the same people you start with. Partners, friends, key employees, and others will fall by the wayside for one reason or another as you go along. You will outgrow some. Others will become jealous and resentful of you. I can assure you that, at some point, you will have to make a decision that will be very unpopular with everybody around you. Then you will ultimately decide that the only indispensable person in your business is you.

Recently, a member of one of my coaching groups came to grips with his need to get rid of a soured employee. He procrastinated for over a year, tolerating her bad attitude, sabotage of his authority with other employees, and almost constant criticism of his ideas. He argued with me that she was indispensable. She’d been with him for 13 years, knew his business inside and out. She managed the office, interacted with clients, and he relied on her daily. He had erred in letting this one person become so apparently indispensable, but it ultimately turned out she wasn’t quite as indispensable as she or he thought. In the two months immediately following her departure, the number of new clients dramatically increased, revenues increased, other employees stepped up to the plate. She had been blocking the flow of money into the business just as surely as if a giant boulder had been placed in the doorway. This is a situation all too common; the business owner reluctant to rid his business of a person who has long ago morphed from asset to liability. Turning blind eye and deaf ear to this is mental weakness.

I once had to end a 5-year relationship with a business partner who had been my closest, best friend. At another time, an 11-year working relationship with a lawyer who had become a friend and who had gone through many battles with me also had to be ended. I’ve had to fire long-time employees who I liked personally. And I’ve had to put my foot down, have a confrontation, and endure temporary anger and tension in the work environment. But, ultimately, business cannot be run by committee or consensus. You’re it. Being it is not always fun. But always necessary.

I have also fired clients, and encourage my clients to let exceptionally troublesome or unprofitable customers go. I have killed pet projects, and encourage my clients to welcome the swift sword; to get out of bad situations sooner rather than later, with only egg on their faces and disappointment in their minds rather than blood all over the floor and a gaping hole in the bank account. Any mental weakness, squeamishness, hesitation, or procrastination over tough decisions will be costly and can be fatal. One of the worst things you can possibly do in business is be late.