People are your way out, up, and forward

When I teach my School of Entrepreneurship classes (thesoe.com), I see some business owners sit there, all burned out and trying to hold onto a shred of hope that this can all ever work out, making excuses and blaming the world for why they have not done better.

Do you want to hear what I really want to say to them?  

Do you really want to hear the hard truth?

“It’s you.  You’re the problem.  You’re just not the kind of person you need to be to build a team of people that will commit to whatever it is that you are leading (yet, but that is up to you.)”

You see, the secret to growing and scaling is getting other great people on your team and fully committed.  But if you are not the kind of person good people will follow, and bet their futures on and their families’ futures on, then it ain’t gonna happen.

You’ll be stuck here by yourself trying to do it all – and you don’t scale.  You can work 16 hours a day trying, but you will just ruin your life that way.

You will have good people take a pass on working for you, or you may be lucky to hire good people who wind up leaving when they see where this ship is sailing – nowhere with you at the helm.

Sorry.  That’s the truth.

So get your act together.  Show up with clarity, energy, and kindness with a mission to be the best and win.  Be positive and make people feel important.  Create a place where THEY can be successful first, not you.  Care about other people because they know if you do or not.  Don’t be a jerk.  Don’t yell.  Be fair and honest to all.  Work on yourself.  Be a person that others WANT to follow.  

Other people are your way out, up, and forward.

The business will never outperform the leader – and that is you.

The business will not get better and grow until you do.

Truth.