Written by: Greg Weiss
Every entrepreneur has been there. We know you love your business. However, if you have to sit down and do the tedium of admin work yet again…
What inevitably happens is that the tedious admin bits get left to build up to such an extent that you cannot procrastinate anymore. When that happens, the basics of your business slow down as you tackle all of the admin in one go. It’s a balancing act often leaving the entrepreneur/business owner feeling drained and pondering the reasons for opting for an entrepreneurial career.
Typically when I meet with clients who have reached this point I recommend they find an operational soulmate, only to be met with “Yeah, we’ll get right onto that.” Or they say something like, “We hired a temp; if it works out we’ll give them a permanent role.”
They often assume I’m suggesting hiring an admin person. They erroneously think they need someone to merely fill the skills shortage, so they go out and hire a cheap resource to do the job.
Don’t do that, because an admin person isn’t what you need at all.
More Staff Means More Responsibility
When ‘Lilly’ came to me she had a flourishing custom jewelry business and was enjoying the creative outlet her business offered. She loved finding clients and providing them with beautiful jewelry pieces. She did not love filling in tax forms and compliance documents, and all the other tasks that come with running a business.
Consequently, she found herself caught in that loop of growth and stagnation as she flip-flopped between the parts of the business she loved, and catching up on all the back office stuff.
Even worse: she’d hired an admin person to take over the administrative side of things, only to find that she was now having to supervise and deal with issues that cropped up, leaving her no better off than she was before.
This is because an admin person is a member of staff. Their job is simply to perform admin tasks and they will be looking to you for guidance every step of the way.
A Good Operations Manager Is A Missing Piece Of The Puzzle
An Operations Manager is not an admin person. Far from just picking up the slack, their role is to set the strategic direction for the back office part of your business and make sure it happens – i.e., integrate the workflow.
A good Operations Manager match has a complementary skill set to your own – the missing parts of your puzzle, if you will – and be as committed as you are to driving the business forward.
They typically get stimulated just at the time when you start to feel dread at the thought of a task that needs to be fulfilled. They should also understand your vision and be of the skill set to create pathways to make it happen.
In this respect, an Operations Manager is much more like a Captain’s Mate on a ship: while you, the Captain, are keeping your eye on the horizon and determining the overall direction, your Operations Manager should have a keen idea of what it takes to get there, who needs to be doing what, and how to motivate them to do it.
The relationship between you as the business owner/entrepreneur and the Operations Manager, then, is one of mutual respect, trust, and possession of a shared goal: to make your business thrive.
We Can Help
If that sounds like a tall order, that’s where Soulidify comes in. Our passion is to create those perfect partnerships, giving you the trusted partner you need in your business, and allowing you to get on with doing what you really love.
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Recruitment
At Soulidify, we specialise in connecting HR leaders with exceptional talent in Sales, Project Management, Operations, and Human Resources. As a proud member of NPAworldwide, our global reach and local expertise empower us to deliver bespoke recruitment solutions that drive your organisation forward.
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With our expert services in Talent Mapping and Talent Pipelining, aligned with the expansive network of NPAworldwide, Soulidify.com.au is your partner in strategic talent acquisition.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Greg authored 3 practical Career Books, and 1 Book helping Visionary leaders scale their businesses. He is one of Australia’s most experienced HR consultants and leading career coaches. He is the founder and owner of Soulidify and Career365. As an entrepreneur/business owner, Greg has experienced first-hand the joys and frustrations of starting and growing one’s own business.
