July Marks the 7th of our series of blogs so I though there is a value in doing a quick recap of the story so far.
In January we talked about the ATTITUDE, approach and mind-set needed for a new year to be different from the last one. How important is that as we look to the changes in our economy in the past 6 months and so far how successful have you been at a change in attitude in 2017
In February we talked STRATITUDE How to really take control of your business and I asked Why are you still doing things that you know are not working
March Brought FORTITUDE and that called forth all the determination resilience and Grit we have. It’s part of what makes an entrepreneur
April and May brought LATITUDE AND LONGITUDE. Latitude spoke of position, reach and the rewards which leads us to Longitude and the limited amount of time we have in order to achieve the Latitude. So manage it well and don’t waste any of the 28,835 days you get.
Last month it was about the ALTITUDE your goals add to your achievements
This month It’s a double whamee
The words are quite simple
APTITUDE and INEPTITUDE
APTITUDE is the innate ability to do something and do it well without expending excess energy. It often comes very naturally and without a lot of thought and it comes out well every time. You get positive emotional impact from the things you have an APTITUDE for.
INEPTITUDE is that thing that takes you four times longer than anyone else to do and when it’s done it still leaves you with a sense of dissatisfaction. To be honest you know you do not want to do it again. Nobody wants to be inept but if we are honest we’re all inept at some things
And my point is this and it is very simple. As business owners we think we have to be good at everything. Falsehood number 1. We think that we have to be able to do everyone’s job as an expert. Falsehood 2. This brings me back to something I referred to back at the start of the year. If there is something you hate doing, or it takes up inordinate amounts of your time….. STOP DOING IT. The cardinal error here is the issue of trying to be all things to all people. What is wrong with delegation?
I had 2 clients a long time ago who were partners in a bookkeeping business. Both worked from home. Both had kids so they would alternate who did the combined school run so that they got more productivity from the limited time they had till the kids got home from school. But there were not enough hours in the week. When I drilled into it I found they were both doing housework (which they both hated) before getting down to the mornings work. I asked them: How much an hour are you paid by your clients? €35 was the answer. How long do you spend on morning housework? About an hour. How much would it cost to have a cleaner an hour a morning? €10. So why are you doing it yourself?
Same thing applies to you. Delegate the stuff you are bad at and go do the stuff you are good at and enjoy. Remember APTITUDE leads to enjoyment. INEPTITUDE leads to discomfort and dissatisfaction and probably no improvement in competence.
My question is: What do you want from your business life? Enjoyment or dissatisfaction? What do you measure your success in? And what’s wrong with getting someone else, who enjoys doing what you hate, to do it for you and leave you free to do the things for which you have an APTITUDE.
This however means you need to do something a bit uncomfortable. You have to assess; Ruthlessly; where your personal strengths and weaknesses are and then act on that. Trouble is that leads on to doing a SWOT on the business to achieve the same result and that leads to a SWOT on your competitors and that leads to a better marketing plan and that means loads more work because you are sticking to your APTITUDES in the business and that leads on to more profits and isn’t that going to make for a self-fulfilling prophesy of success?
APTITUDES YES INEPTITUDES No. Play to your strengths. It’s a winning formula