Be Your Own Boss, why you cannot fire employees who do things that you do

Owning your company is an exponentially rewarding yet challenging endeavor. Business ownership means freedom, high earning potential, and power.

If you look at the top 1% in the United States most of them are entrepreneurs but they didn’t do it alone. Owning your own business means that you set the trends within your organization. Your team will thrive on your good habits and struggle with according to your short-comings.

There is no personal development project quite like running a business.

Statistics show that more and more entrepreneurs are turning to life coaches and consultants to deal with personal development because it has a direct effect on that business’s profitability.

When we think of a good employee, we think of someone who does the job they are being paid to do.

If you’re hired as an accountant one would expect you to be able to complete tasks typical to an accountant, i.e bookkeeping, taxes, profit, and lost forms.
If you’re hired to be a graphics designer, one would expect you to have working knowledge in Adobe suite products like illustrator, photoshop, or mobile compatible apps like Lightroom. If you’re hired to be a copywriter, your employer wouldn’t expect you to be a first-class web designer.

Makes sense right?

Entrepreneurship isn’t like that AT ALL. The entrepreneur typically has to be in all of those roles, in the beginning. Often the first person an entrepreneur hires is an assistant.

That assistant, similar to the entrepreneur has to multitask his or her way through the business until the business grows enough to hire positions with specialized skills.

In a lean team, your small staff will take cues from you about what is acceptable and what is a violation of your company culture.

It’s a big responsibility. Don’t worry you are up for the role.

To build a company culture first look at yourself and examine behaviors you would celebrate in others. Then take a look at behaviors that you would find unpleasant in support staff.

For example, to run Flourish Media, a marketing firm, it’s important that we speak with clients often to make sure we are building the right messages in any given campaign. For that reason, a willingness to converse is a celebrated behavior. Also because we have several meetings, it’s challenging to move around the city with traffic and be on time. Being on time is a task that I personally struggle with. Because I am self-aware, I try to keep meetings online or by phone because I am more likely to be on time, therefore, keeping a professional level of service for clients.

I can’t imagine firing someone for being late because I am late. Instead of punishing that behavior, I would find ways to curve it. If you’re thinking about letting go of a staff member, first take a look at, how that behavior reflects in your larger company culture. Be honest, have you taught your team the best method, and if not is there something you can do to create a solution?

One of the services we offer at Flourish Media is a one day intensive.

During the half-day training we cover a number of issues and conflict resolution in one of them. We can help you look at the issue in your business objectively and build a solution that is true to your brand. Schedule a discovery call to learn more.