James: James Schramko here from SuperFastBusiness.com. Today, I’m speaking with Kat Jarman from YourOnlineTeam.com. Hey Kat!
Kat: Hi again.
James: So one of the services you provide is installing an online business manager into someone’s teams, usually, for busy entrepreneurs where they’re either not highly skilled at leadership or they’re not able to attend to their team because they’re working really closely on an expert-level project or maybe they just want some time off and they like things to run smoothly. So for whatever reason, they appoint someone to be interfacing between them and the team. And if they don’t have a team, then this person can even build out the team and get it all structured, and running nicely.
Now, there are times where you’re not going to always get agreement with your online business manager and I’d love you to talk more about that. Why does this happen and what should we look for?
Kat: Yeah, so one thing that I noticed sometimes with our clients and sometimes just with other people that have their own online business managers or integrators or project managers, and they kind of expect the relationship is going to be super harmonious all the time. The online business manager is always going to agree with everything that you say.
And I think sometimes we forget that the reason we’ve got this person is generally, they are very opposite of the business owner, they’ve got opposite traits. And the reason that you bring somebody like that into your business is to help pick you up where you fall down as a business owner. So, they’re probably going to be more detail-focused than you are, they’re probably going to care more about completion than you do. A lot of entrepreneurs are really good at starting things and then they don’t really care so much about actually making sure things get finished.
A good online business manager also, generally, isn’t scared to speak up. So they’re not really a yes-man or a yes-lady. If you come to them with a new idea and they were busy implementing your last idea and it’s not finished yet, they’re not scared to say, Hey, do we really need to start this now? They’d be like, is it just a shiny object thing that you’ve got going on at the moment? Can we hold it off until next month?
And some entrepreneurs are sitting there thinking to themselves, Well, hang on a second. You should just say yes and let’s do it. So if your online business manager irritates you sometimes, I kind of see that as a good thing because they’re focused on getting the best outcome for you regardless of how you’re putting yourself in the way of that. Because we all do it as entrepreneurs, we all get Shiny Object Syndrome and we want to move on to something else, your online business manager is probably going to hold you back and say, Hey, can we just focus just for a minute?
James: Yeah, so it’s like what Gino Wickman talks about in Rocket Fuel. Most entrepreneurs have that visionary streak. They have their reality distortion devices set to full maximum. And they need an integrator, someone who can actually get those spinning tires to grip so they can really accelerate in the business.
And I like the other part where they will be challenged from time to time. Research has actually shown in the book called The Challenger Sales that salespeople who challenge more can sell more and I think the same will be for an integrator. If they can call it and say, Hey, that is unrealistic and it can’t be done within a week. We need to allow five weeks for that. And we need to bring in someone into the team to get the capacity for it.
A good entrepreneur needs to have the support where they know that it’s going to get completed, it will get done. And you’re so right about people being different. I had a recent call with a student and he was saying how he loves working with this particular person on projects because this person follows through. It’s like he can come up with the idea, paint a vision for it, get excited about it. But then it will stall without the support, you need someone to carry that ball all the way to the finish line, and deliver on the project.
And business in itself is not static, there are ups and downs. And people are not static. The same two people can be in good vibration at sometimes and then falls apart at others for totally separate reasons. So when you’re dealing with humans, you have to make allowances for not always getting on. And the last thing you want is just a yes-person who says yes, yes, yes but then can’t deliver and then has a catastrophic fail to the point where sometimes they just want to disappear. And you do hear a lot.
I mean, I hear lots of rumors of employees disappearing. And it hasn’t happened to me. It’s very rare, I can only think of one or two times in the last 20 years where someone’s just gone AWOL. And that might be because you’ve created a very unsafe environment where the relationship is, someone’s too strong and someone’s not reconciling that. And then the difference becomes so great, they have to just break. So really interesting discussion. Thank you for explaining why they’re different.
And hopefully, if you’ve got a good support person there to carry your entrepreneurial vision then you’re getting the projects done in the right timeframe without too much drama. And if that’s not happening then get in touch with Kat, YourOnlineTeam.com and ask her about how she can support you in your business to get your visions and hopes and dreams across the finish line. Thank you, Kat.
Kat: Thank you. If you’re paying for that high-level support, you may as well actually use them to help you achieve more.
James: That’s it. Put confidence in that the training and experience and background they have and they bring to the party. And remember people in your team, Kat, they’re working in multiple businesses, they’ve seen different leadership styles. They’ve already built teams and run standard operating procedures. So they’re just so much more advanced than if you’re trying to do this from scratch.
Kat: Very true, so true. So if you need help, look me up.
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