Paradoxes in the life of a business owner

When you decide to start your own business, you will receive an abundance of information on how to start it. No one, however, prepares you for all the paradoxes that you will encounter in this journey. If you think about your role as the owner of a company, you will realize that you have many responsibilities and commitments to fulfill. Soon it will become painlessly clear that you cannot fully discern as to which of these responsibilities you are doing well and which ones you suck at.

Sometimes you wonder: Are you working IN your business or working ON your business. Are you managing or are you leading? Are you putting out fires or preventing them in the first place? 

Is your ‘leadership style’ a growth enabler or a growth barrier?

Leadership involves many inconsistencies and demands continuous behavior adjustment. Many fail to keep up with the constant changes and get stuck with their auto-conditioned behavioral style and then expect that everyone must adapt to it. Forcing that style on others and taking the ‘it's my way or the highway’ approach will only deem you as ‘one of those’ bosses!

The best way to enable growth is to listen to what others have to say, understand what optimizes other people’s performance, and be agile in adapting to the situation.

A huge paradox in the life of a business owner is - Are you a boss or are you a leader?

The truth is, you are and must be both!

One of the mistakes many business owners, and managers in general, tend to make is being too friendly with the people they are supposed to manage. They don't know how and where to set the boundaries. Very few people know precisely how to behave when they first become a boss or a supervisor. They find it difficult to resist the intoxication of power and simultaneously their need to be liked by everyone.

Being too friendly will not get you far, nor will it assert you as a leader. Similarly, being too authoritarian won't get you better results. Essentially, you must strive to find the balance and one way to do that is by being empathetic. It does not imply that you will stop holding people accountable for their work. It only means that emotional intelligence and business success go hand in hand. These two can and must coexist. 

To be a good leader, or a boss, whatever you want to call yourself, you must embrace these paradoxes and determine your customized choices. Some situations will require you to lead from the front, and others will need you to let your team lead. Should you make decisions quickly or take your time? Well, both - depending on the situation.

Each meeting, person, and task will need a customized approach. There is no one-size-fits-all solution and trying to create it is worthless. Every interaction and issue will require you to be agile in your thinking, fine-tune your strategy, and continually adjust your actions.

Leaders need to be optimistic and realistic, enthusiastic and cautious, all at the same time. You need to build an optimistic vision for a project as you want your team to be focused on the goal. At the same time, you want to be realistic and alert everyone that things may not play out as planned based on the occurrences of external events. How open and transparent should you be about possible issues? Should you share all the trivial and irrelevant information? Would it be okay to share bad news right up front? Balancing all these disparities is vital to avoid causing anxiety, fear, or worry among your team members! 

This is what happens during change management like let's say due to a merger you move your office to a new location. We know that merging is always a challenge as people may be worried about layoffs and a new working environment.

Do your employees participate or contribute?

Should a leader create a structure or allow freedom? Should people involved in your organization contribute to the development of the system or participate as a cog in the machine?

Generally speaking, organizations could have a mix of both. The manufacturing side of things could be more process and precision-driven, while the product design could function with more fresh thinking and innovation. A leader's job is to recognize when to allow the brainstorming to unravel and when to step in and steer the conversation in a specific direction.

Final thoughts

As we have observed, different scenarios demand different approaches and hence leaders take these paradoxes in their stride. Plus, resilience is vital for a good leader. As a business owner & leader, finding the right balance and knowing how to adapt to the ever-changing variables is critical.

Excuses most people make for not hiring a coach

Excuse# 1: “I am already successful”

All the world’s top athletes have coaches. They are successful and continue engaging with a coach to help themselves get even better. Similarly, top executives hire a coach either to help themselves get better or to develop the next level of leadership effectiveness.

Excuse# 2: "I don't have the time to engage with a Coach"

In today’s world, no executive has any more time than you. They all have the same number of hours every day. The question is: how do we choose to spend our time?

Coaching nets you saved time by helping you to delegate effectively, distinguish
meaningful vs. wasteful work, prioritize tasks, and devote more time to the
most important things in your life.

Excuse# 3: "I need to wait until I get over this project or initiative or busy patch in life"

Were you struggling to find time in the past 12 months? Past 6 months? Past 3 months?
If yes and you think - "I will have more time after I get over this current busy
phase" This statement is not accurate in predicting the future. There will always be more
busy phases to follow this current patch.
Striving to find time is not the cure for not engaging a coach. In fact, coaching
enables you to live without constantly humping and fighting fires. It helps you do more in less time by taking wise and well-thought decisions.

Excuse# 4: "I can't afford coaching"

This depends on whether you want to budget for your own professional development. Are you willing to invest in your own growth?
Coaching is not a way to spend money, it is your best means for getting a great return on your investment in self-growth.

Excuse# 5: "I already get advice from family and friends"

Sure! Our buddies and family members all give us advice. But they may not have the right experience and expertise that professional advisors and coaches provide.
Coaches are thinking partners and your best collaborators for guiding you to
create a matching solution for your specific need or situation.

Excuse# 6: "I can't trust someone with my secrets"
Are you a loner?
Coaches maintain confidentiality because that is the necessary part for working with clients and building a trusted relationship. The confidentiality clause is part
of a standard coaching agreement and you must insist your coach to include it
in the agreement.

Excuse# 7: "I am not sure if I could learn from another person"
Do you want to figure out everything on your own? Are you planning to walk all alone in your career journey?
Coaching allows you to find out your blind-spots and figure out your development areas. Whether you are totally ready to learn or somewhat reluctant at the start,
anyone who hires a reputed coach will gain some valuable insights and take-aways. 

Tips for becoming resilient in business

Being able to shrug off failure and criticism without it taking over your life is one of the most important parts of being successful in business. Whether you are running a business or trying to climb up the corporate ladder, resilience is definitely a trait you want to work on. It is what keeps you going even when faced with seemingly insurmountable obstacles. The old saying goes: “If at first, you don’t succeed, try, try again”. But this is often easier said than done. These tips for becoming resilient in business will hopefully aid you in your quest to take the business world by the horns.

What is resilience?

Resilience essentially refers to how flexible you are, and how easy it is for you to bounce back from the difficulties of life. It also refers to our way of dealing with pressure and whether we remain calm and collected in situations of extreme stress. Resilience is not only useful for business, but for life in general. Besides helping you be successful, it can also lead to inner growth. Some people do come about it more easily or seem like they are born with it. However, all is not lost if you are someone who finds it hard. There are tips that can help you develop your resilience. It will help you remain more optimistic, even in times of strife, as well as deal with stress in more effective ways.

Here are some effective ways to build resilience in business

Reframe your thinking

Sometimes when you come across a problem it can be exceedingly difficult to see the forest for the trees so to speak. You are focusing all your energies on solving it, yet somehow it remains in place, without moving an inch. This is incredibly frustrating as it can feel as if you are banging your head against a wall. One thing that would occur to a resilient person in this situation is to change their thinking. Go out of the box or abandon the problem completely for a little while. Once you come back to it with fresh eyes, you will be able to succeed in solving it.

This can often happen when people are stuck in their ways or feel like there is only one way to go about things. For example, if you are building a website for your company, you may feel like you have to go a more traditional route when there are powerful companies that made amazing WP sites. Being able to think outside the box will make you a better problem-solver.

Take charge of your emotions

If we let our emotions run rampant, things can often seem much worse than they are! One of the ways how to be more resilient when things get tough is to practice optimism regularly. Optimism is actually a muscle and the more you try to think positively, the more it will happen. Having a positive outlook will help keep your emotions in check even when things go south. And having a cool head will make it easier to make important decisions.

Learn from mistakes

An important part of this is facing up to the fact that you could be mistaken. Being aware that you might not be coming at something from the right angle implies being okay with failing and owning up to it. Every mistake is something that you can learn from and remember not to do next time. Thinking about why some strategy failed so you would know not to repeat it is one of the ways to enhance your resilience in business!

Let go of being perfect

This is much easier said than done if you are someone who chases perfection in all areas of life. You need to convince yourself; however, that perfection is not attainable. No matter what you do, things are probably going to go wrong at some point. It does not matter how hard you try to keep it together. Accepting that already makes you more likely to bounce back quickly. Doing your best at any given moment is really all that any of us can do. At times finding an effective solution is more important than being perfect.

Build good relationships

Another way how to be more resilient when things get tough is to have a support system. None of us can really go at it alone, nor should we. Building trusted relationships with professionals who will understand when you are having trouble and provide a good sounding board can be an irreplaceable part of being successful in business.

Set clear goals and prioritize

Working on the ability to set clear goals for yourself is one of the tips for becoming resilient in business. It means that you are able to realistically survey the situation and then prioritize your actions based on evaluating various factors.

Celebrate little victories

Acknowledging that every win, no matter how small, took time and effort is one of the ways to build resilience. It helps you know in your heart what your brain already knows – every little thing matters. Everything you do gets you a step closer to achieving your goals.

Learn to say no

It may seem counterintuitive. However, learning how to say no is one of the effective ways to enhance your resilience. It works similarly to setting clear goals and consciously avoiding tasks that waste your time and energy. If you are careful about what you devote your time to, it means you think through things more carefully and are accepting responsibility for them already.

Build self-esteem

One of the ways to enhance your resilience is to enhance your self-esteem. Developing positive affirmations and writing your daily goals will help in enhancing your self-image. The better you feel about yourself and the more confident you are, the more resilient you will be.

Define your purpose

The final tip for becoming resilient in business is to find meaning in what you are doing and becoming effective in your sphere of influence. Being able to see the big picture no matter what it is; that is the sign of a resilient person! Knowing that there is a higher purpose you are striving for makes it easier to overcome failures when they happen.