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A friend told me once that balance is DECIDING which ball you’re going to let drop. That advice has stayed with me.
I was reminded of it in a conversation last week with a founder whose business is genuinely doing well. Growing, new clients, press, all the things. And then mid-convo came the "I'm so tired I can't even tell you" sigh that we all know well.
When we got into it, the thing that was wearing on him wasn't the growth. It was that he was still in every decision. The business had grown around him but he hadn't moved with it.
I recognized it because I've been there. I think most of us have.
We tell ourselves that “it’s faster if I just do it.” or “No one knows the business like I do.” or maybe “My name’s on the door and the standard matters!” And all of those are true but none of it is the point.
The point is that you hired people, trained them and if you’re still the bottleneck on decisions they should be making, then either you don’t trust your hiring/training or you do and you’re still not letting go. Either way you’re wasting time and money.
Being in the weeds is costing you in the obvious ways but more importantly, it’s costing you the decisions only you can make. The decisions that grow the business. And you’re giving them whatever energy and brainpower that’s left after you’ve spent the day doing things that you already delegated.
There are founder-level decisions and there’s everything else.
Not everything is worth your attention. Literally.
Your business can’t grow past you if you’re in the weeds of every decision. At some point you have to let some things break to find out whats really working on it’s own and whats being held together by the sheer force of your will.
Growth comes at the expense of a few cracks. Let it break, fix whats worth saving and toss the rest.
Forward this to a founder that needs to let go.
Talk to you soon!
Kelly
P.S. The Guava Founder Dinner is back on April 29th in NYC. An intimate dinner for founders who want real conversation. Grab a seat at the table.
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