For a company to reach its full potential, three primary roles must be filled. Most companies have one of them covered. Good companies have two of them covered. Great companies have people in each of the three roles. Innovator | Strategist | Operator Innovators create opportunities, strategists optimize opportunities and operators execute on opportunities. Innovator Curiosity, discovery & risk-taking. They find the opportunity that others have overlooked. Their curiosity & confidence in uncertainty help them find something new & push through. Strategist Big picture thinker, analytical & a good decision maker. They’re focused on optimizing the potential of each opportunity & product as well as the overall potential of the business. Operator Practical, hands-on and focused on creating results. They create structure, systems and processes to ensure the company runs smoothly and can scale. When starting as a solopreneur you have to spend time playing a part in each of these roles. You can’t get a business off the ground unless you do some aspect of each throughout the work week. As the company grows you can add team members to take on these roles. The reality is that most small business owners need to be proficient in each of these roles to get their company to a place where they can begin to hire people to take over the roles from them. A good place to start is to create a job description for each of the roles. In the sage wisdom of G.I. Joe - knowing is half the battle. With a job description for each role, solopreneurs and small business owners can be more effective when switching contexts between the roles in the workweek. As they become more effective and grow revenue the right people can be hired to manage each of the roles. These roles scale up as companies grow and single positions turn into teams which turn into business units. Pick any successful company and you’ll find these three categories working together to drive the company. What am I missing? Is this too simplistic? What are the alternatives that could improve this model?
I just finished re-reading The E-Myth, and one of the key things I've pulled from it this read through is the need to take the time and map out your ideal corporate structure, and then write job descriptions for each down the line of each department. Exactly like you're describing. Its helped me tremendously in organizing my days, identifying what I'm doing and why, and start to understand better the specifics of the roles I want to take myself out of, and bring someone onboard to do.
Who owns finance?
This is great, thanks Christian.
Community Builder | VP Sales Operations | Outdoor Industry Brand Leadership
1moFundraiser and community builder are also key development areas, and communication skills to influence.