Where do you spend your time? Missed opportunities cost us. Being slow to market can doom a great product or idea. Not being in the right place at the right time can cost our businesses dearly. So, in juggling all the responsiblities on your plate, where do you spend your time?
It consistently baffles me as to how many business people I speak with (CEOs, Presidents or recently a VP of Operations) do not appropriately allocate their time in the best areas to leverage their expertise. They are caught up in being a do-it-yourselfer which can compromise their effectiveness and the ability of the organization to achieve revenue and growth goals. A recent example to share with you: a local company is growing dramatically. Lots of hiring, scalability challenges, fast paced, competitive sector – the whole package of good things and growing pains. A friend of mine was interviewing to join the business development organization and I happened to know several key people in the organization. As she and I chatted about whether she was going to join the company, she remarked – Mary, they need For Marketing Matters. Their website is not good and their message is not fully baked. There is no one that owns marketing. So, knowing some of the principals, I called them to catch up. The head of Operations informed me that he was in charge of marketing and that he had hired a young, tactical guy on his team and otherwise, he, as VP of Ops, would be developing the marketing strategy and executing it while running Ops. Really?! It struck me as comical, but not unusual.
Marketing is a function that many feel they can ‘get to’ and do well with minimal experience or expertise. Remember the ads of an average businessperson feeling like he/she could perform surgery because they had stayed at a Holiday Inn last night?! That image is what I think of when people indicate they can figure it out, ‘do’ marketing on the side.
My suggestion to all is don’t miss the opportunity to leverage your expertise and skills to do what is best for your business. Don’t dabble. Dabblers are ‘do-it-yourselfers’ and find themselves constantly busy, but not really getting anywhere. Ask yourself: Is this the best use of my time and talents? Is there someone where I can best leverage their expertise and talents to get me to where I want to be more effectively and efficiently? Investors in businesses have more time to work on their business versus in it.
There is a real value associated with opportunity costs. Be mindful of your ‘worth’ in the marketplace and spend your time wisely. As the old addage says – Time is money. Dabblers waste a lot of time.