Hustle Needs Support
Businesses don’t run without help. Yeah, I said the thing that most “self-made” business owners keep in the fine print. In order to run a successful business, your hustle needs support.
Now I know the stereotype of the modern-day entrepreneur is that of a sole hustler, toiling away on their laptop, managing several competing interests, and wearing several hats at once. But the business professional that doesn’t outsource tasks, ask for help, and appropriately value help is a person that will soon be out of business. More importantly, individuals who don't make it a priority to transition from hustlers to leaders will be left behind. I once was the person that thought “doing-it-all” meant “doing-it-all-alone.” But in 2020, years after pivoting to an executive corporate career from retail management, I had a change in perspective. Witnessing the inner workings of such a large corporation gave me insight into what a business needs to start, operate, and grow. And that insight allowed me to see parallels between what large companies do, and what I could do on my own.
Leaders at large corporations know that to be successful, a business must have the right policies and procedures in place and must set standards by identifying its priorities. These standards are then met by aligning systems to those priorities. This efficiency is achieved by identifying what the company’s priorities are and act accordingly based on those priorities. As an entrepreneur, it’s inefficient to want to manage every aspect of your business on your own and it’s a false assumption to believe that you can. Take the business model of the Atlanta restaurant chain, Slutty Vegan. Owner Pinky Cole created the brand from her two-bedroom apartment in 2018. But despite its humble beginnings, Slutty Vegan’s success is due to a team of people supporting Cole’s vision. She details her team in a 2019 article in Forbes:
“I have a core of advisors who help me stay the course in and outside of the business. My manager is always coaching me on how to grow as a brand to make sure that every decision I make in the business is a sound one. My general manager and my store manager are my work husband and wife who treat the business as their own. They are my watchdogs and keep me uplifted whenever my entrepreneur anxiety kicks in. My assistant supports me in my everyday roles, and I need her like peanut butter needs jelly. She keeps all the business affairs in good and working order.”
It’s not enough to hustle hard. A successful business entails hustling smart and a smart hustler is a leader that is confident enough to know when their energy is best served leading their business.
