Susan L Reid
If you're like most solo entrepreneurs, you're running a
business that is primarily a party of one. One-person
businesses are very common, especially for women.

It's not that women aren't thinking big in terms of
dollars; it's that they are not so big on managing people.
Instead, they'd rather focus on their passion and on
getting their passion-turned-product or -service out into
the market to make other people's lives better. Because of
this, most women don't seriously consider growing their
business beyond the solo point.

Think for a minute of what it would be like for you as a
woman business owner to be happily focused on your
passion-turned-product while pulling in $1 million a year.
For many people?¬not only women?¬this would be a
perfect life. It certainly was the motivating factor for me!

Too often, though, because women are reluctant to hire even
a few, part-time employees, they end up focusing less and
less on their passion-turned-product and more and more on
managing ?the thousands.? Thousands of what? Thousands of
emails, calls, requests, details, interruptions,
breakdowns, and other things that solo entrepreneurs have
to focus on each day just to keep their businesses running.

Turning Employees into Teams

Let's consider the phrase "hiring employees." How would it
feel if you reframed this phrase, changing "hiring
employees" to "building a team?" Doesn't "building a team"
feel much more expansive and exciting than "hiring
employees?" It certainly does to me.

Enterprising women entrepreneurs think in terms of building
teams. That's because women are natural collaborators. They
instinctively move away from the practice of hiring
employees because of its top-down leadership implications.

Building a team is a collaborative leadership model that
many women easily embrace. Women know the richness of
relationships that will result from like-minded people
teaming up and putting their heads together to achieve a
common goal.

That's why enterprising entrepreneurs build teams to manage
the day-to-day activities of their businesses and also
build partnerships with professional advisors to help them
make the most of their personal and business potential.

The Enterprising Entrepreneur Team Does building a team
sound as good to you as it did to me when I first started
thinking about taking my business to the next level? If so,
I bet you're wondering whom you'll need to have on your
management team, and whom you'll need to have on your
professional advisory board. Your enterprising entrepreneur
team should include the following:

1. You

Your team starts with you at the top. You are the Chief
Executive Officer of your business. Yes, the CEO. If you're
thinking about taking your solo business to the next level,
the first thing you'll need to do is start thinking like
the CEO of your enterprise.

You don't have to be running a big business to think like a
CEO. Just reframe the term CEO so that it works for the
enterprising entrepreneur. When you do, then the CEO
becomes the top-level woman responsible for the operations
of her business. For the operations of her business. Not
for operating her business. Instead of doing it all, you'll
be putting a team together who will manage the operations
of your business for you.

Are you clear on that difference?

2. Virtual Assistants

Virtual assistants now become your management team. I
recommend placing two of them on your team. You'll need one
to manage the administrative aspects of your business and
the other to manage the technical.

How many hours they work each month and what they manage is
entirely up to you. Consider starting with 10 hours per
week and increase it from there as you become more
comfortable having them on your team. Soon, you will see
how freeing and necessary it is to have them, not you,
manage the thousands of details that come across your desk
each month. That's what I did.

3. Professional Strategists

You probably already have a working relationship with the
three main people who will make up your professional
advisory team: your tax advisor, insurance advisor, and
legal advisor. Most women entrepreneurs have a CPA in place
to do their personal and business taxes, an insurance agent
in place for their car, home, life, and business insurance,
and an attorney in place for their personal and business
legalities.

The next step to becoming an enterprising entrepreneur is
to turn these business advisors into your business
strategists. Instead of meeting with them once a year to
get your taxes done, to review your policies, or when
questions come up, meet with them more often.

Begin this week. Make an appointment with each of them to
talk about your business. Share your vision and plan for
your business and inform them that they are now on your
team. Let them know that you'll be meeting with them
quarterly to discuss your business and strategize about its
growing needs. If you are a solo entrepreneur thinking
about taking your business to the next level, a little
reframing of your thinking is in order. First take full
responsibility as CEO for the operations of your business.
Then gather the right people around you to support your
success. Rather than having to ?hire employees?, focus
instead on ?building a team.? Follow the suggestions in
this article and you will soon have the three key team
components necessary for taking your solo business to the
next level. Start now to become the enterprising
entrepreneur you know you can be.

About the Author:

Susan L. Reid works with women starting up home-based
businesses for the very first time who are feeling both
excited and overwhelmed at the prospect and haven't a clue
where to begin. If you are ready to take the first steps
toward owning your own business, get instant access to your
own free PDF copy of "Doing What You Love: Multiple Streams
of Passion" at http://www.SuccessfulSmallBizOwners.com