Welcome to the Owner Institute Newsletter where we talk about getting owners working on and not in their businesses.

In this week’s issue:

• Why heros can’t scale

• The real heros in your business

• How to break the hero cycle

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Quick Hits

1. 🥳Congress has reintroduced the Main Street Tax Certainty Act, which aims to make the 20% Small Business Deduction permanent.

2. 😮February 2025 Small Business Outlook data show consumer spending remains high.

3. ☑️🎛️Many small companies are realizing that AI tools are more accessible than previously thought and embracing the technology.

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Deep Dive: Stop Being a Hero: Why Your Business Can't Scale on Heroics Alone

Here's a hard truth: Those amazing employees who will do whatever it takes to get the job done? The ones who always save the day? They might be killing your business.

I know because I’ve had a variety of heroes in my businesses over the years. When things broke, they did whatever it took to patch things up and keep going.

When clients needed the impossible, they delivered it. When fires broke out, they grabbed the nearest extinguisher and ran toward the flames.

God, I loved those people. Then I had to fire half of them.

The Hero Trap

Somewhere in the $5-10 million in revenue range, I started noticing something: Every time we grew, things would break. And instead of fixing the underlying problems, my heroes would swoop in and save the day.

Need to onboard new employees? Hero jumps in. Client deliverable in trouble? Hero to the rescue.

Sounds great, right? Wrong. Because here's what was really happening:

• No processes were being documented

• No systems were being systems

• No sustainable solutions were being created

• I was running out of heroes

Eventually running around and putting out fires day after day doesn’t scale.

Why Heroes Can't Scale

Here's the problem with heroes: They're addicted to chaos. They love being the person who saves the day. The one who knows how to fix everything. The go-to problem solver.

But you know what heroes hate?

• Following processes

• Building systems

• Documenting their work

• Staying in their lane

• "Boring" operational stuff

I remember the day it hit me. I was watching one of my best people run around solving problems, and I thought, "If she just stopped and documented how she does this, we wouldn't need heroics in the first place.”

The Process vs. Hero Decision

That's when I made one of the hardest calls of my career. I gathered my team and said, "From now on, process beats heroics. If someone has to be a hero, that means our process failed."

You know what happened? Some of my best people couldn't handle it. They didn't want to build systems. They didn't want to document processes. They wanted to be heroes.

Over the next few years, we had to change out over 50% of our emerging leadership team. It was brutal. These were good people who had helped build the business. But they couldn't or wouldn't adapt to what the business needed next.

The Real Heroes

You know who the real heroes are in a scaling business? The people who:

• Build boring but effective processes

• Document everything they do

• Train others to do their job

• Work themselves out of a job

• Create systems that work without them

These aren't the sexy firefighter types. They're the ones who install sprinkler systems so fires don't spread in the first place.

How to Break the Hero Cycle

1. Look for the Patterns Every time someone has to be a hero, ask: What broke? Why did it break? How do we prevent it from breaking again?

2. Document Everything If someone knows how to do something that others don't, that's not job security - that's a business risk.

3. Build Boring Systems Good systems are boring. They work the same way every time. Heroes hate them. That's how you know they're working.

4. Celebrate Process Builders Start praising the people who prevent fires instead of the ones who put them out. Make it part of the employee review and promotion process.

5. Get Ready for Turnover Some of your heroes won't make the transition. That's okay. Better to know now than when you're twice the size.

The Hard Truth

Your business will eventually outgrow your heroes. When that happens, you have two choices:

• Keep your heroes and stay small

• Build processes and scale

I chose the second path. It cost me some great people. But it got us to $35 million.

Remember: Everything in your business is the owner's fault. You either hired it, did it, or allowed it to happen. If you're running on heroics, that's on you.

The good news? You can fix it. But first, you have to be willing to stop being a hero yourself.

Here’s me talking about why sales is like fruit. What was I thinking?

Want to learn how to build a business that doesn't need heroes? Check out our programs at www.ownerinstitute.com.