I recently participated in REBarcamp, an intensive day of knowledge-sharing sessions for those in the real estate industry. Topics ranged from digital marketing and social media to HUD info and business development. As a sponsor of the event for my new biz, QRHere, LLC, I led an educational session on the use of QR codes for real estate and otherwise took the chance to better understand the perspectives of real estate pros.
It was interesting to be in the mix as a voyeur—a non-real estate type whose roots are in the more traditional business world—yet see how the needs, interests and experiences of all independent business people run parallel. Here are three transcending truths I was reminded of by spending the day at REBarcamp.
1 – Independent business people often do it all until they can’t do it all.
When you’re initially building your business, you often have to be jack-of-all-trades. You are COE—Chief of Everything, pouring yourself into every aspect of the business every day…and every night. That arrangement holds until the well runs dry, and you simply can’t do it anymore. At that point you either retool the biz model and get help, begin your exit strategy or just limp away in utter fatigue.
The lesson: Hiring help is an investment in your business that may prevent you from wearing out or giving up.
2 – Independent business people need to know what they don’t know.
You aren’t the omnipotent deity of your business. You may know a little about a lot of things, but you’re only a subject matter expert on maybe three topics at best. You have to be honest about where your knowledge is thin, lest you become the biggest obstacle on your path to success.
The lesson: Know what you don’t know, then get to know who knows what you don’t. This will help you hire the right help, as mentioned in the previous point.
3 – Independent business people need to define what “success” is to them.
So you get the biz going, hire help, make good money and are your own boss. Is that it? Is that your goal? If it is, then good for you; now just keep going. If not, then it’s essential that you step back and determine what success really means to you. Otherwise, you’re running on a hamster wheel of your own making. Which is pretty much like running on a hamster wheel of somebody else’s making but with more complicated taxes.
The lesson: Only you can know what constitutes victory, contentedness and bliss for you, so don’t let the idea of ‘being your own boss’ become the boss of you.
My takeaway from REBarcamp? I’m examining the idea of hiring help by first focusing on the key areas where I know what I don’t know. Also, I’ve renewed my perspective on where this whole ship is heading just to make sure I’m charting the right course to my personally defined “success.”
Fellow Small Biz Big Timers, what’s your take on these three points? Do tell, either by commenting here or by posting over on the Facebook group page.
THANKS for reading!
small Biz Big time 