You’ve probably read articles talking about the importance of staying hydrated before, and almost every time the point will be made that if you wait till you are thirsty then you are already dehydrated! Well, it’s the same for calling out for help with your business. If you are at the point of needing to ask for help, then it’s probably way past the point of when you should have reached out!

Get help – sooner rather than later

Reaching out for help with your business goes hand in hand with business growth – if you want to achieve your business goals and grow and continue to succeed then the business processes need to grow along with it. But which will come first – grow first and then refine the processes or set up the processes to enable the growth? Think of it another way. Isn’t it easier to spend the time – your most precious and finite of resources as a business owner – doing the work of implementing the help you need in your business before growth? Growth that might feel like too much too soon? Growth that might feel overwhelming and too difficult to pause to get the help you need? By planning for your growing business needs now, these systems and processes can be in place before the overwhelm strikes

“What you resist, persists” Carl Jung

Most business owners don’t pre-empt business growth. It takes them by surprise as they sit for the 10^th night in a row replying to emails at 2 am! But even in the depths of burnout and overload, there are things that you can do. Hint: It’s not as hard as you might think.

You just have to ask for it. And sure, it might have made more sense to have done that 6 weeks ago, but that doesn’t mean that the situation is helpless. It might take a little more time, or involve a bigger financial investment, but it will still be less than if you wait another 6 weeks! So take the step now to reach out – make the phone call, send the email, whatever it is to get the help you need!

Follow your why to find your focus

Which brings us to the question – what help do you need? Sometimes answering that is hardest question! When thinking about what your business needs to sustain and grow, it can be helpful to look back… way back, right to the beginning. Why did you want to start your business? What inspired you to bravely take the risk of doing it yourself? What is it that you were so passionate about that you acted on that inspiration? Looking at our why allows us to remember where our focus needs to be.

This will be different for everyone. If you’re a creative whose why was to spread joy with lovingly handmade art pieces, then it’s unlikely that your focus needs to be on reconciling receipts and transactions? But if you’re a bookkeeper with a love of numbers, that focus makes a lot of sense! Remembering your why allows you to refine your focus and see the areas in your business that you can have someone else look after. By spreading the workload around to people who are each passionate about the tasks they are doing, the business is able to run more efficiently and you can focus your energies on the things that truly matter to you.