No-one can do my job as well as I do. How do I get off this treadmill?

Dear Aunty B,

I started a small business four years ago, to give myself more flexibility and freedom. HA! I now work longer hours than I ever did when I was a legal secretary, and I get paid less!

I can’t see any way off the treadmill because no-one can do the job I do as well as me, and my clients would leave me if I handed them over to anyone else.

Aunty B, how do I get off the treadmill and realise the goals that I started the business with? 

Desperate,
Brisbane

Dear Desperate,

Stop flattering yourself! Are you telling me there is no-one in the world or the universe maybe who cannot do your job as well or better than you!?

The good news is – there is.

For a start you are a distracted, frustrated business owner. Imagine hiring someone highly skilled who you then train up? You then introduce them to clients with glowing recommendation and confidence.

Worse case scenario, you lose one or two clients but so what? You’ve will have just gained 20 because you’re actually focusing on building your business.

Desperate, there are too many people in your situation who need to free themselves up to get their business to the next level. But there are many people who do it very successfully!

Good luck!

Your Aunty B.

Comments

Elizabeth from Heusler Public Relations writes: Desperate, I hear you. What Aunty B missed was that your income is less than that of a legal secretary – thus how are you supposed to pay this wonder person assuming you could find them? That’s the dilemma we all have. Also wonder-people are thin on the ground – despite what the unemployment forecast it. I bit the bullet and hired up – cost me a motza and I was paying them more than I earned. I spent time and energy and worked weekends making up for the lost time with them during the week – they just took me for a ride while they job-hunted for a cushy job. Lost a good client in the process. Sometimes it’s easier to stay small and just concentrate on doing great work for good clients.