Are you in the process of trying to do it all on your own in your business? Is this struggle coming from the fact you haven’t hired a team yet or is it because you are struggling to learn how to let go and trust your team? It is common to build a team and then feel the loss of feeling in control. As bookkeepers, we are in a very purpose-driven business and we have an outcome that we need to produce. A lot of us feel if we don’t have our hands in every little piece of it, something’s going to go wrong that has our name on it and it’s going to cause a problem.
Can you relate to all of this??
Now, I want you to think about your team. The team you develop is only going to be as good as the purpose that you’ve established and the systems you create around producing the outcome you desire. You have to have a way for your team to know what it is specifically that you want them to do. You also need to have a way to monitor what they’re doing because if something goes wrong, ultimately, it’s on you.
This is super important, especially if you are trying to take on a more advisory role and letting your team take care of all of the compliance work.
Two Types of Teams
There are two types of teams that we are going to discuss. The first is bookkeepers and the second is all of your peripherals. Those team members are going to be VAs, an executive assistant, an online business manager, a social media team, etc.
The Bookkeeping Team
You can’t reasonably expect a bookkeeper to come in and do work for you when you have no process for them to follow. If you don’t have any checkpoints to monitor what they are doing, where they are at, or if they are doing what you have specifically asked them to do, you are both going to struggle.
If you have been following me for some time now, you should know that I am really systemized. My team and I use a whole process, checklist, and so much more. There are points within that process, and on that checklist, that must be addressed for every single client every single month or every quarter. This process is a cloud-based workflow, so everyone has access to it and I have a way to monitor it.
I use this workflow to follow up and make sure that my team is checking off the boxes when they are supposed to be. Now, if I had this process in place and my team members are falling behind or not doing what they should be and I’m not noticing it, that’s on me. In that scenario, my team wouldn’t be doing a terrible job, I would be because I’m the one who is not doing my job of following up.
This is also the time when I should say that you should be transparent with your team. They need to feel valued and understand the goals you are trying to achieve for the business. Share your revenue targets and what you are trying to do timewise. Be clear with your team about all of these things, because it will allow them to do their job better, so you can do your job better.
It is best to have a system in place, so you can make the bookkeeping component as clear as possible. You should document the steps that you want to be taken so that anyone can follow the steps in the given order. Be very specific about what you want to be done, how you want it done, and where you want it all saved. All of these things will make your team feel empowered because they will know exactly what they are supposed to do and what you expect from them.
This will also build your sense of trust in your team over time because they will consistently be doing what you expect of them.
The Peripherals Team
I have just started working with peripherals over the last two years or so. I have now hired an online business manager and a social media team. This was a hard process for me because it meant I had to let go even more with my business. Plus, the entire process of finding people to hire was crazy! When I sent out an RFP for an online business manager, I was inundated with resumes. All of these people were promising me the moon, yet not showing me how they were going to deliver what they were promising.
Thankfully, I was able to find my online business manager by looking at how they took the time to learn more about my business and tell me exactly how they would be able to help with my long-term goals. There was no generic information included and the best part was they took the time to make a video instead of simply sending a basic resume. If you are going to be hiring peripherals, I strongly suggest you look for people who have a genuine interest in your overall goals.
Communication is also key when working with peripherals. There needs to be an understanding of the end goal, so your team can get you there. Your online business manager or social media team should then be able to reverse engineer how they are going to get you to your goal.
Trusting your peripheral team is not going to be as easy as your bookkeepers, because you cannot micromanage them. If you’re hiring a team member to do a specific job, they are experts in their industry. Whatever it is that they are doing, they are the expert at it. Your job is to be completely transparent with what your goal is for what you want to achieve and communicate it to these experts.
If you are building out your business, you must remember it is not just about you. You have probably heard that it takes a village to raise a child, well, it is the same when you are building your business. It is always better to be upfront and honest from the start, so there is never any resentment or mistrust. Any problems with any of your team members should be addressed head-on immediately, as difficult as that may be. I know you might not want to have that uncomfortable conversation, but if you are building a team, you have to start getting comfortable with it.
I encourage you to start building out a system or buying one if you don’t have the time to create one. This system is what you are going to need to truly trust your team, so you can finally let go of one little piece at a time. Your business will then thrive because you will have more time to do your job instead of focusing on the jobs your team does for you!