How to Lead When You Really Don’t Want to

7 Basic requirements you need to know when you run a business

You have dreams of starting a business and you realize running a business is more than you expected. Instead of only having an idea to run your business, you wonder if you made a bad decision. Don’t worry, many others have been down this road before and have succeeded. Several key factors will help as you run your business.

The business will not run by itself. As the business owner, you need to step up and be the leader. Yes, this wasn’t written anywhere in a manual. You have to make some decisions so your business runs effectively.

Each business will have its own specific requirements. In general, these are some tips a business owner needs to have and work with the personnel they manage.

I have my fair share of experience operating different businesses over the years. Some businesses failed since I didn’t have the time and resources. Hopefully, these tips will help if you decide to start a business or need tips on your current business.

Have a Vision

Good business leaders create a vision, articulate the vision, passionately own the vision, and relentlessly drive it to completion.

Jack Welch

To run a business, you need to know where you want to take your business. Where do you see the business in 5 to 10 years down the road? You may not have specific details, but you should know where you want to be in the future.

Without having a vision, you are doomed to fail. You may operate your business day to day, but you need to think where do you want the business in a month, 6 months, and years later.

A vision statement will help solidify your business and where you want to take it. How the business helps the client it serves, will help you guide the business every day.

The mission and vision of Amazon.com is: Our vision is to be earth’s most customer-centric company; to build a place where people can come to find and discover anything they might want to buy online.

Everyone knows Amazon and they continue to refine and grow their operations from the little book store that it once started as. Now they are one of the biggest companies in the world.

Create your company vision, and you’ll be on your way.

Lead from the front

A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way and shows the way.

John Maxwell

As the owner of your company, you will be looked upon as the head man or woman of the organization. When in charge, take charge. No one is going to handle the tough tasks and issues but you. You will hire and fire people and sign the check to order more supplies.

You won’t know everything on day one, but be open to learn. Your experience will help as you navigate through the new issues that come up.

Maybe you never lead a group or were always the quiet one among your friends. As the head person in your company, this is not the time to be quiet. Be prepared to grow and get out of your comfort zone. When you make a decision, make the best decision and move on. You don’t have time to think — did you make the right decision. You made the best decision at that time. You don’t have time to debate if it was the right decision. If you made a mistake, learn from it and make sure you don’t make the same mistake twice.

Leadership in business is the capacity of a company’s management to set and achieve challenging goals, take fast and decisive action when needed, outperform the competition, and inspire others to perform at the highest level they can. Investopedia

Educate yourself as there are hundreds of leadership books out there. Follow John Maxwell, who is one of the most sought after speakers on leadership principles.

If you don’t think you’re a leader, you can grow into a leader. Most people didn’t start out as leaders but they learned along the way.

Talk to your staff

Great leaders communicate and great communicators lead.

Simon Sinek

As the leader of your organization, you need the support of your staff or employees. You can’t do everything yourself. If you try to do everything yourself, you’ll wear yourself out. This is one way you’ll burn out.

Running an organization is a team effort. You may be the brains behind the organization, but you need your employees to get things done.

Communicating with your staff is important. You may have daily meetings or huddles to make sure everyone is on the right track. There should be two-way communication between you and your employees. You need to know what’s going on as do your employees. These talks will help you know how your staff is doing as well as your business.

Make decisions

You cannot make progress without making decisions.

Jim Rohn

Making a decision is key for your business to run effectively. Decisions are key to keep your business running every day. As Jim mentioned, your business will not make any progress without decisions.

Just as the world around us changes, your business must change with it. The laws in your country will change. Tax codes will change. You have to steer your business along the right path and navigate through these changes.

You may not know everything about taxes, but working with smart people in this field will help. Their guidance will help as you make the decisions to improve your company.

Keeping your ideas in your head will only lead your business to failure. You have to make decisions to improve your business. Don’t be afraid to make the tough decisions.

Watch your numbers

Know your numbers is a fundamental precept of business.

Bill Gates

If you have watched the television show Shark Tank, many business owners fail when they don’t know their numbers. You have to know the numbers that make your business.

You need to be very detailed with the income and expenses of your business. If you’re not a numbers person, you need to start getting comfortable with it. Mismanaging your numbers will only hurt your business.

The finer details of accounting may be best to hire out and use an accountant. Sometimes it best to let the experts handle these details. Overall, you should know the basics of the money that comes in and out of your business.

Be sure to have a separate bank account for your business. A basic rule is to not mix your business account with your personal account. Your business money and personal money should not mix. The commingling of these two funds will eventually hurt you when you do this.

Learn to delegate

If you really want to grow as an entrepreneur, you have to learn to delegate.

Richard Branson

One of the toughest jobs you may have as a leader is delegating. Telling someone what to do may make you feel uncomfortable. So instead of delegating, you decide to do it yourself and think you can do a much better job. Trying to do everything yourself, will burn yourself out. You’ll also miss some important tasks as you don’t have the time to think about what you as the leader of the company should be doing. When you get too involved in the minor details, you will miss the important tasks to run your company.

If delegating makes you uncomfortable, try this technique that I learned from a manager at McDonald's. Instead of telling his employees to do something, the manager would say,

“Tom, can you make a few burgers so we can get ahead of the lunchtime rush?”

The manager didn’t tell you to do something but he asked if you could do something. The results were still the same but the way he asked changed how he delegated the task.

If you feel uncomfortable delegating tasks to your employees, ask the employee if they could do something for you. You’ll more than likely get a yes since the person doesn’t want to act like they are too busy and think they are doing you a favor.

This is a great way to also build the team at the same time. The employee will feel more ownership of the company and also feel they are helping you. This is a win-win and you’ll both get the benefits out of this.

Delegating is a task that will help you in the long run. Learn to delegate as soon as you can and allow you to worry about the big details to run the company.

Seek out mentors

A mentor is someone who allows you to see the hope inside yourself.

Oprah Winfrey

More than likely, someone has operated a business similar to the one you’re running. At times, it’s good to get an unbiased opinion to give you some tips so you can keep your operation running. Having a mentor or two on your side will not hurt you. They may actually help you in the long run.

A mentor “is someone who teaches or gives help and advice to a less experienced and often younger person”. Merriam Webster

You need an expert on your side to help you handle the big issues in your business. You don’t need to call them every day but you need to reach out to them from time to time when you have big issues and have no idea what to do. Occasionally, your mentor may offer friendly advice as you navigate through different issues in your business. This advice will help keep your business thriving during tough times.

Seeking out your friend’s advice is usually not the best option. If they haven’t walked in your shoes before, then you’re better off finding someone who has. You want an experienced person to be your mentor and not anyone off the street.

A mentor could be one of your most trustest advisors and help you through the tough times. Finding a mentor won’t be easy and may take some time before you find the right person.

Final words: running a successful business

These seven requirements will help you in your business. If you want a successful business, you need these tips to help your business run effectively.

These were the seven topics discussed:

1. Have a Vision

2. Lead from the front

3. Talk to your staff

4. Make decisions

5. Watch your numbers

6. Learn to delegate

7. Seek out mentors

When you start or run a business, there are a lot of details that many people will not discuss with you. A lot of these little items can be big issues if not addressed early.

You have to get comfortable getting uncomfortable if you want to run your business. There will be a lot of surprises along the way.

Tom Handy is a top writer on Medium, former Quora writer, and father of two kids. He retired from the Army and sits on several non-profit boards. You can find him on Twitter @tomhandy1 and his publication Life is Like a Game.