Peer in episode #52 of the De Gebakken Peren Podcast.
1. Not enough of anything, all the time.
It requires a lot of work upfront to build a good platform.
But, you can only make enough money to pay for the work once you reach a certain scale. Which takes a lot of time.
This is a very hard period to bridge.
(This is also true for freelancers trying to turn into a studio btw.)
This is exactly why so many of them turn to venture capital.
When there is not enough money coming in yet, it’s tempting to hire cheaply: Not paying normal wages.
But this has the effect that your company is not the main or only priority for you people. And thus you won’t get their best work.
Or simply can’t hire the right people for the job.
In a certain way, they subsidize working for you with goodwill and energy. But this is very nice of them but is not sustainable and will run out.
This means you’ll stay in an endless loop of putting out fires, taking over the work, and finding new people.
If you can find a way, invest in your people!
It’s YOUR job to free them up from the stress of finding other ways to make money.
2. Knowing what your company requires of you
It can be hard to hand over tasks you used to do.
You have done them quite well so far. You must have, or you wouldn’t have made it so far.
That means you have a certain vision or opinion of how it’s “supposed to be done”.
But, or the company requires a next level in that work, or the company requires something else from you.
To delegate well, you need to understand what they need to know from you and where you need to get the hell out of the way to let them cook.
You can follow the acronym IPO: Information, Permission, Outcome.
Do they have all the information to do a good job? Where everything is, working principles, how to deal with hurdles?
Do they have the freedom to make decisions or simply access to the documents or funds to do their job?
Is it really clear what a good outcome is judged on?
3. Being in connection and being of value
At its core, every entrepreneur finds ánd something that’s desired, ánd a way to create that for folks.
A great starting point to make contact with your surrounding. Having conversations. Listening.
Finding out what people here need.
From this understanding, you can start to add things of value.
Iterating. In contact with these people.
Perhaps small at first, and increasing in size over time.
This can be locally or in digital communities.
You’ll build a strong foundation of relationships and reputation.
It might take some time. It might not seem efficient.
But it’s as close to a sure thing as there is.
