Business Owner or Jack of All Trades – Master of None

How do you become a successful business owner? You must become the master of your craft. This means you learn to outsource the things that someone else can do better or faster than you so you can focus on what you enjoy doing. This just makes good business sense.

When evaluating a business you will want to review what services the business is offering. Is one person trying to be the receptionist, bookkeeper, cleaning person and deliver the services or products in person? Buyer beware. Experts specialize. Depending upon your budget you may want to work with a Jack of All Trades but more than likely you will want to work with the Master or Expert.

As a business owner, you must determine the products or services you will provide. Often people start chasing the latest trends before having mastered the services they are currently touting. Instead of become a master at specific things they are just learning the basics of several things and mastering none. Would you go to a gourmet coffee shop where the owner only knew how to make regular coffee and never mastered how to make a latte or frappaccino? No, you would not. You would be disappointed. Would you hire a web designer that only could provide you a basic template website? Would you hire a marketing professional or graphic designer who was using templates from a bargain online store? These people may fit your budget but will the results really be what you are looking for? What is your actual return on investment?

People want to work with experts. Experts are also able to command more money for their services. How do you become an expert? You must be willing to invest your time and money into learning every facet of that particular item. Many people are touting themselves as social media experts or guru’s yet they have never invested in attending social media training nor do they invest their time in learning the latest. What he or she is relying upon is watching what others are doing and copying what is currently being done. Instead of being on the cutting edge he or she is following the pack. But, because he or she is not investing in training he or she is not able to learn the inside secrets to using social media until the secret is no longer a secret.

Again, experts specialize. As a business owner review your mission and vision statement. Do the products and services you offer honor your mission and vision statements? Have you gotten off track? Look at your website. Are you even offering the products and services that you state you offer or have you gone off chasing the next shiny object? Do not fall into this trap. You must take time to self reflect on where you are in your business, where you want to go and what honors your passion . It is ok to change direction but make sure you are doing it for the right reason.

When I started my business many people were only focused on offering social media training. Those business owners are now out of business. You must have products and services that will withstand time. It is ok to offer a few of the latest trends but you must have something to fall back on when that fad or trend passes. You must be the expert in your niche. Take time to become the expert. If you are not willing to invest in becoming the expert in your niche then it is time to admit that you are not passionate about what you are doing and you need to move on. Passion turns into profit. Experts specialize.