9 problems with relying on one person for all your business support
As ambitious empire builders, we’re constantly seeking ways to streamline our operations, scale our businesses, and amplify our impact. It’s tempting to search for the elusive “unicorn” – that one Online Business Manager (OBM) who can swoop in and handle everything, from content creation to client management, with seamless efficiency.
But is this really the best strategy for sustainable growth? In a recent episode of The Audacious Empires Podcast, our host delved into the nine critical problems that arise when you rely on a single person to shoulder the entirety of your business support. By unpacking this issue, we can gain a deeper understanding of how to build a balanced, thriving team that will propel your enterprise to new heights.
What this post covers:
- Legal ramifications and limitations of relying on a single contractor.
- The high effort required to find the “perfect” OBM who can do everything.
- The risk of putting your entire business operations in the hands of one person.
- The challenges of maintaining specialised skills across a broad range of tasks.
- The difficulty of keeping up with the rapid pace of change in the online space.
- The capacity caps and potential for burnout when an OBM is overloaded.
- The impact on the quality of work when an OBM is stretched too thin.
- The budget pressures and lack of financial efficiency in this approach.
- The benefits of building a balanced team with specialised skills.
- The importance of strategic delegation and leveraging the right expertise.
Listen now:
Legal Ramifications and Limitations
As OBMs are typically contractors rather than employees, there are specific legal guidelines and boundaries that must be observed. Relying on one person to handle everything can blur these lines, potentially exposing both you and your OBM to legal and financial risks. It’s crucial to understand the distinction between contractors and employees to ensure compliance and protect the integrity of your business.
“There are different legal expectations based on each one. I’m not going to go into all of the legal expectations or the laws around that because I’m not a lawyer, but I do know that if you’re putting all of your hopes and dreams of the support of your business into one person, the level of support that you’re going to need from that one person is going to be higher than if there were multiple people or it was spread across multiple people.”
The Herculean Effort of Finding the “Perfect” OBM
Searching for a single individual who possesses the breadth of skills and expertise required to oversee the entirety of your business operations is an immense challenge. The more you narrow down the role, the harder it becomes to find the right fit. Instead, consider building a team of specialists who can each contribute their unique talents to your enterprise.
“If I only hire one person, if I only bring one team member on, I only have to do this once. But, to find the right person, the right person who can cover the breadth of things that comes with everything that needs doing in a business, that person is going to be a lot harder to find.”
The Risk of Putting All Your Eggs in One Basket
When you entrust your entire business support system to one person, you’re essentially placing all your eggs in a single basket. Should that person unexpectedly depart or become unavailable for any reason, your operations could grind to a halt, leaving you scrambling to pick up the pieces. Diversifying your team mitigates this risk and ensures the continuity of your business.
“We are investing our whole business operations. And everything that happens within our business in just one person. All of the knowledge, all of the training, our relationships, everything is going into one human and that is a dangerous place to be.”
The Challenge of Maintaining Specialised Skills
While OBMs are versatile professionals, the expectation of mastering a wide range of skills, from content creation to financial management, is simply unrealistic. Specialisation is the key to delivering high-quality, impactful work. By acknowledging the limits of a single person’s expertise, you can build a team that collectively possesses the specialised skills required to drive your business forward.
“If you have an OBM who’s promising all of those things, they might be able to do it, but they are going to be able to do it to a surface level. They are not going to be able to do every single component of those things to a deeper level. And that will have impact.”
Keeping Pace with the Rapid Pace of Change
The digital landscape is constantly evolving, with new technologies, platforms, and best practices emerging at a dizzying pace. Expecting one person to stay ahead of the curve across multiple domains is an exercise in futility. A team of specialists, each focused on their area of expertise, is better equipped to adapt to these rapid changes and ensure your business remains agile and competitive.
Capacity Caps and the Looming Risk of Burnout
Human beings, even the most dedicated and capable, have inherent limits on their time and energy. Asking a single OBM to shoulder the entire weight of your business support can quickly lead to burnout, diminishing the quality of their work and potentially jeopardising the long-term health of your enterprise. Diversifying your team allows you to leverage each individual’s strengths while respecting their boundaries.
“Human beings, even the most dedicated and capable, have inherent limits on their time and energy. Asking a single OBM to shoulder the entire weight of your business support can quickly lead to burnout, diminishing the quality of their work and potentially jeopardising the long-term health of your enterprise. Diversifying your team allows you to leverage each individual’s strengths while respecting their boundaries.”
The Impact on Work Quality
When an OBM is stretched thin, trying to juggle an overwhelming array of tasks, the inevitable result is a decline in the quality of their work. Specialised skills and focused attention are essential for delivering the level of excellence your clients and brand deserve. By building a team of experts, you can ensure consistently high-calibre outcomes.
Budget Pressures and Financial Inefficiencies
While the perceived simplicity of a single OBM managing your entire business may seem appealing from a budgetary standpoint, this approach often falls short in terms of cost-effectiveness. Paying a premium rate for an OBM to handle tasks that could be more efficiently and cost-effectively delegated to other team members is a recipe for financial strain. Optimising your team structure can unlock significant cost savings and ROI.
“If we’re being good stewards of our business? We want to make the best budgetary and financial decisions that we can. So even though it seems easier to go, yeah, this person is a great OBM. They’ve got a great reputation. I’m happy to pay them. It doesn’t mean they need to do everything, get them to do what they’re great at, and then get other people that are the right people for the roles that you need, doing their pieces.”
The Path to Sustainable Growth: Embrace a Balanced Team Approach
Rather than clinging to the notion of the “all-in-one” OBM, the key to unlocking your business’s true potential lies in embracing a balanced, strategic approach to your support system. By assembling a team of specialised professionals, each contributing their unique expertise, you can unlock a level of efficiency, quality, and scalability that simply isn’t possible with a single point of failure.
This approach may require a shift in mindset and a willingness to let go of the desire for a “one-stop-shop” solution. But the benefits are undeniable: improved work quality, increased capacity for growth, reduced risk of burnout, and a more streamlined, cost-effective operation.
The Bottom Line:
The path to sustainable, scalable success lies in building a diverse, specialised team that can collectively propel your business forward. By understanding the limitations and risks of the “one-person-does-it-all” mindset, you can make informed decisions that will set your organisation up for long-term prosperity.
Over to you
Tell us – what’s holding you back from building the dream team that will take your business to new heights? Share your thoughts and challenges in the comments below, and let’s work together to find the solutions that will unleash your full potential.
Tune in to The Audacious Empires Podcast to explore this topic further and discover the strategies and insights that will empower you to build a thriving, well-structured team. Your business’s future is waiting, and the key to unlocking its full potential lies in embracing a balanced, strategic approach to your support system.