My Vision/Other People’s Hands

this team makes my life better

The hardest thing about being a founder is giving up control to others. It’s a funny thing, the more I’ve developed an organization and my vision of what that operation should be to make an impact, the more I put my fate into the hands of corporate partners, staff, and those we serve.

It’s a great problem to have, because it means we’re growing and expanding, but it gives me heartburn. A lot of heartburn.

I’ve written about it before, I have the best staff in the world and I have made a huge effort this summer to make sure I’m delegating responsibility and not just trying to put the weight of everything on my shoulders. It’s been a big change, it takes a lot of trust for me to pass off the vision to others to take ownership of, but we’re a better organization now because of it. We’ve been able to do more, create new content, and I’ve been able to focus on what I do best…creating business to help support operations.

Which leads me into the second part of this, the corporate partners who we work with. They’re amazing, incredible, talented people, all of whom have bonded (or at least understood) my vision of creating a tangible impact in the community. At the same time, we’re dependent upon them to continue to grow and it’s easy to feel a little vulnerable as deals come together. I’m sure it’s no different than other people in sales, you need the person across the table to say “yes” and get the other people in their organization to also say “yes”.

It’s an exciting time at Nine13, new corporate partners, big level corporate deals that have taken a lot of time, new interns starting in a couple of weeks, and new school programs coming online. Momentum is our friend, and we have a lot of it.

I’m adjusting (and I think others will say in a positive way), to having “control” represent a different thing than when this was just an idea on paper and I was trying to get it off the ground. I consider this the best ongoing education I could ever ask for, and I wouldn’t trade it for anything….including the sleep I occasionally lose along the way!

I’ve taken ownership in new things as well as I have more free time now that I have this amazing staff, I’ve made my workouts a daily priority, getting back to writing and reading, and making sure the dogs are getting a ton of love. There’s a lot of perks of delegation, and feeling like I don’t have to work 24/7 is at the top of the list for sure!

Any other tips for learning how to adjust after learning how to delegate?

Cheers,

-th