Stop Being the Human Duct Tape in Your Business

tl:dr

• After over 100 Business Maturity Assessments, business score the lowest-scoring on the ability for owners being to focus on strategic work instead of daily operations and firefighting.

• Join our free webinar on how to build a team that will change the answer to that question.

🤯 Let me guess your typical day:

You start with a list of strategic priorities, then spend the next eight hours putting out fires, answering questions your team should know how to handle, and doing tasks you've "delegated" three times already.

By 5 PM, you've accomplished exactly zero strategic work, but hey – at least that client proposal got out (the one your sales team "just couldn't handle right").

Sound familiar? You're not running a business. You're being the human duct tape holding it together.

And it's 100% your fault.

🪤 The DIY Trap

Here's why you're stuck: You think you're irreplaceable.

"Nobody can do it as well as I can."
"It's faster if I just do it myself."
"My team doesn't get our standards."
"This client needs the personal touch."

BS.

What you're really saying is:

• I haven't built proper systems

• I haven't trained my team effectively

• I haven't established clear expectations

• I haven't held people accountable

I know because I've been there. My first company was stuck at $4M for years because I didn’t hire the right people and put in a system of accountability.

You know what happened when I finally got sick enough of being the bottleneck? We grew to $35M.

🤔 The Brutal Truth About Your Involvement

In our Business Maturity Assessment, the lowest-scoring question across the board is about owners being able to focus on strategic work instead of daily operations.

This isn't a coincidence. It's a pattern.

Let's address the elephant in the room: You're not involved in everything because you have to be. You're involved because:

1. It feeds your ego. Being needed feels good. Being the hero who swoops in to save the day feels even better.

2. You're afraid. What if someone screws up? What if the business can function without you? What would that say about your value?

3. You've built a business that requires you. This is the real kicker. You've accidentally created systems, hiring practices, and client expectations that put you at the center of everything.

😕 The Owner's Dilemma

Here's the sick joke of entrepreneurship: The very skills that helped you start your business are now preventing you from growing it.

• Your attention to detail? Now it's micromanagement.

• Your ability to wear many hats? Now it's inability to focus.

• Your hands-on approach? Now it's a bottleneck.

The traits that got you to $1M will strangle you at $5M.

📜 Your Escape Plan

Want to break free? Here's your roadmap:

1. Find your time-sucks

For one week, track every time someone asks for your input or you jump in to handle something. Write it down. You'll see patterns emerge – the same questions, the same problems, the same "emergencies."

These aren't random events. They're symptoms of missing systems.

2. Build the damn process

For each recurring issue, create a documented process:

• What decisions need to be made?

• What information is needed to make them?

• What standards must be met?

Don't overcomplicate this. A simple checklist or one-page flowchart is better than nothing.

3. Create accountability systems

This is where most owners fail miserably. You create a process, explain it once, then get pissed when people don't follow it.

Real accountability requires:

• Clear KPIs that measure success

• Regular review meetings (weekly, not monthly)

• Consequences for missing targets (and yes, that might eventually mean firing people)

• Make it part of their job description

If you're not reviewing performance data weekly with your team, you're not serious about stepping away.

4. Have the hard conversations

Another area where owners blow it: avoiding difficult feedback.

When someone fails to follow your new process, you have two options:

1. Jump in and do it yourself (and stay trapped forever)

2. Have an uncomfortable conversation about expectations

Guess which one builds a business that can run without you?

5. Actually stay out

The final step is the hardest: When the inevitable "emergency" happens, resist the urge to dive in.

I'm not saying to let your business burn. I'm saying to coach your team through the fire instead of grabbing the hose yourself.

"What do you think we should do here?" "Which part of our process addresses this?" "What information do you need to make this decision?"

💸 The Real Freedom

After coaching dozens of business owners, I've seen this transformation repeatedly. The owners who implement these steps don't just build more profitable businesses – they build more enjoyable lives.

Imagine:

• Taking a two-week vacation without checking email

• Focusing on the parts of the business you actually enjoy

• Having time to think about growth instead of operations

• Feeling like an owner instead of an employee of your own company

Take Action

Want to build a team that can support your business and get you out of the day to day?

I’m doing a one time free webinar on how I built my Leadership Team to run a $35m company without me.

The choice is simple: Keep being the human duct tape holding everything together, or build a business that can thrive without your daily involvement.

What's it going to be?