First appeared in Daily Maverick 168
There were days when Lungisa Matshoba, our chief technology officer, and I hopped on to sales calls alongside our team to encourage prospective merchants to come on board. I have fond memories of that period of Yoco’s history. It’s something to remember that what we fought for in a month – in terms of new merchants – is something we now do in a day. At the time, we rolled up our sleeves and fought for every customer, and we still do. It set the tone for rolling up our sleeves and fighting for every new customer and built strong foundational relationships with both team members and customers.
However, as Yoco matured as a business I learnt to step back from the frontline and trust others to scale our operations. In the process, I am able to concentrate on mastering what it is that I do best for Yoco.
Part of the reason we developed the Yoco Formula is that it prioritises growth both on a personal and professional level.
One of the values we live by is “master your craft”. It draws attention to the importance of going deep into your domain and the underlying skills needed to do so. Business owners often need to be a jack of all trades in the beginning. Learning to delegate at the right time in your journey will leave valuable space open to focus on what you truly love in the business.
No matter how many people you hire or how much you scale, as a founder and owner you probably feel a sense of responsibility for all the moving parts of your business. With that comes the temptation to want to control all of it. It’s unnerving and risky to let someone else take the driver’s seat, isn’t it?
So what often happens is that entrepreneurs develop a tendency to overextend themselves, coming from a core drive of responsibility and accountability. From product to marketing to finance and customer engagement, you are spread thin across the business, doing everything you can to keep your head above water.
Hat wearing is necessary at the beginning and is a great way to see the business end to end, driving it where it needs to go. However, over time it becomes draining, with effectiveness naturally starting to wane. These are the signals that it is time to take a step back and bolster the team with new talent to accelerate things forward.
The question is, how do you stay connected as you take a step back?
The answer is to figure out what you love to do in your business and then dedicate time to mastery in that space. One of my favourite business writers and CEO coach, Lex Sisney, refers to this as your genius zone. This is where you can effortlessly add the most value and where you derive most of your energy as an individual.
It’s important to carve out space to play in your genius zone. It starts with taking control of your calendar, diary and time. With smart, simple boundaries, you can begin to make space to work on things that intrigue and challenge you. In this system, you have the opportunity to define what you like and don’t like, what you are good at and what could be better off in someone else’s hands or genius zone. The challenge is learning to let go.
The inverse of this value is the consequences you might face for not finding ways to make space to master your craft. Burnout becomes a threat as you face energy drains trying to do too much of everything else, and too little of what energises you.
You need time to develop and build your skill set, and to set your own goals and objectives.
What’s more, your business will naturally suffer. Focusing on a disciplined handful of tasks instead of a multitude of them is significantly better for effectiveness and energy. As much as mastering your craft will keep you inspired and sane, it will also create room for your business to become truly excellent at each individual part.
So, my challenge to entrepreneurs as the year closes is to spend time reflecting on your work over the past few months – what truly brought you joy and energy to work on, and how can you find ways to do more of it?
Choose your craft and find ways to master it. DM/BM
This article is more than 4 years old
Master your craft: Focus on what you do best; delegate the rest
Yoco began as most start-ups do – in a small office with two tables and a handful of people who were crazy enough to take the leap. We had job titles for the outside world but, internally, every person wore a hundred hats before lunchtime to get the job done.
Categories: