The Entrepreneur’s Blind Spot

So… You built a business. 

You pushed through chaos, made impossible decisions, and wore ten hats at once.

Maybe it’s already successful? Or maybe it soon will be. 

But here’s a truth no one tells you:

Your greatest strength, that relentless self-reliance you needed at the start, is now your biggest bottleneck.

The bigger your business grows, the more complex it becomes. 

Specialist knowledge starts to replace general knowledge in your ranks as you continue to haphazardly push to scale.

You may have some of that specialist expertise. 

But certainly not in every area you need it.

So what do you do?

If you’re like me, you jump from crisis to crisis thinking that with enough time and energy, you can learn to solve it yourself.

But every time you think you've solved something, you turn your back and it goes to shit again in a heartbeat.

This impacted our ROI, growth and my confidence.

The thought of admitting that I didn’t know felt like admitting failure (even to trusted advisors).

It wasn’t until I hired a business coach to help our leadership team, that I realised I was bottlenecking us. 

I finally realised that a business only scales when you stop being its single point of failure.

It’s about giving yourself a fucking break from not having to have all the answers yourself. And that you don't always need to battle through lessons the hard way. 

Asking for help is the biggest unlock I’ve found in this game. 

It’s a team sport made up of owners, advisors, coaches, specialist players and loads of hidden support staff. All equally important.

Ditching the strict self-reliance approach, admitting that you don’t (need to) know it all, and that asking for help isn’t an admission of failure, gives you a ‘near-guaranteed’ shot at success.

Here are two valuable steps I took to unlock a new level of self-awareness and start fixing my business:

Strengths Finder Test

Similar to a personality test, except it speaks only about what gives you energy.

Things you naturally gravitate towards as opposed to things that you might be good at, or have experience with, but that zap your energy.

 The strengths finder helped me understand where I should focus more of my energy, and it revealed key gaps in our team.

Seeing them meant we could start to recruit people who enjoyed the work that others felt was a grind. 

Separately, it also helped bring back confidence by revealing what I’m good at and delegating the rest.

The next thing was…

Pick Up The Phone

Knowing your weaknesses or gaps in your business is one thing. Finding solutions is another. 

I started calling people who ran businesses. Anyone I knew and respected. 

I asked how they had overcome specific challenges in the past. Who they turned to for advice and support. 

I described a few areas I was struggling with and asked for recommendations on who I should speak to next about solving them.

That network of phone calls and new connections was one of the best rabbit holes I’ve ever ventured down.

I can’t recommend this process enough.

My key point in all this is:

Spotting and admitting your weaknesses isn’t failure. It’s a strategic upgrade.

It frees you to focus on only what you do best.

The game isn’t about knowing everything. 

It’s about knowing exactly what you don’t, and finding others to help you solve those bits.

I hope this helps!