Recently, my mastermind partner Maria called me for support. Several exciting business opportunities had come up and she needed a plan of action. As we looked at the opportunities – a large corporate contract, a web radio show, and a joint venture – it was clear Maria needed help to juggle all these priorities. I suggested expanding her virtual team. “I can’t afford to add anyone to my team” she said. “Besides, I don’t have time to train anyone on all this.” I challenged her to do a reality check. Yes, she was skilled in many areas, but she had a big vision and huge opportunities were coming her way.“Can you really afford not to build your team right now?” I questioned.

“I can do this.” she insisted. A week later, Maria called in a panic. “I think I need to back out of this corporate deal. It’s just too much. I’m overwhelmed and don’t think I can meet their deadline.” she worried. “Hmmm… You’re seriously considering saying NO to a huge opportunity rather than bring on a couple of key team members? What’s that about?” I asked, curious.

“Honestly, I just can’t face the idea of a team right now. I’ve already spent too much time and money trying to get a team in place, and I’ve never found the right person. With all this new work coming at me I just can’t take that on right now.” she reasoned.

Sound familiar?

Every entrepreneur reaches a point in their business where the vision they have is bigger than they can implement on their own. And they face a decision—stay small or grow a team.

Growing a team feels like a big step. The ‘gulp factor’ sets in. Sure, you know all the reasons you should build your team—better leverage, faster growth, more time to focus on your personal magic, improving customer service, and more time off.

But, you’ve got at least a dozen reasons why now is not the time:

• I’ll add to my team when… (I start bringing in more money, I launch my new program…)
• Training someone will take more time than if I just do it myself
• No one will do it the way I want it done
• I don’t trust anyone else to have access to my personal business information
• Managing others is not my idea of fun
• Having a team will tie me down
• I don’t know how to find the right person and I don’t have time to look
• I don’t have the cash right now
• I’ve tried before and the VA bolted on me in the first month; I’m not going through that again
• This is just temporary, I won’t be this overwhelmed for long
• I don’t even know what I’d hand off to someone else
• I have no clue how to train someone to do what I do

Sure, these may sound like perfectly rational excuses. But let’s be honest. The thing no one talks about is the fear that holds you back. Every one of these reasons is rooted in fear. Fear of not having enough money, fear of losing control, fear of making a mistake, fear of feeling incompetent.

As the leader of your business, you have a critical decision to make. It’s not whether or not to build a team. It’s whether you are going to make courageous business decisions, or not. To confidently lead your business toward your vision takes courage. And, 99% of the time it also takes a team of people pitching in to make it happen.

My friend Maria finally came around and realized she could no longer afford to play small and play it safe. She put together her ideal team role descriptions and soon after found two new team members who were a perfect fit. Opportunities continue to roll in, and just last week she said “I am loving this team! They are truly awesome and I’m so glad I took a chance. I’ve brought in more than half of my 2008 revenue goal in the last 2 months and I couldn’t have done it alone.”

Are you next?

The next Virtual Team Building Tele-Bootcamp™ starts on April 2nd! This program is designed to put you on the fast-track to 6 or 7 figure success by leveraging the power of a team. Achieve MASSIVE results in your business in just 10 weeks. Discover how to create your super-charged virtual team by booking your spot now at: www.virtualteambuildingtelebootcamp.com.

About the Author:

Shawn Driscoll is a coach on the Success Connections team who brings great strengths from her Corporate background. Shawn is one of the resources for the ULTIMATE Wealth and Success Circle and one of the trainers for the Virtual Team Building Secrets.

Shawn is the author of The Ultimate Guide to Landing Your Ideal Job: Essential Strategies for Finding and Getting Work You Love and contributing author to 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, volume 2 as well as the “Ultimate Guide to Success! 80 Coaches Share their Biggest Secrets”.

------------------------------

Spread the Word:

 digg this  del.icio.us  Technorati  Blogmemes  Ask Jeeves
 Furl  Reddit  Rojo  Simpy  Spurl
 Socialize It  Earthlink  Google  Netscape  Windows Live  Yahoo

------------------------------

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 18th, 2008 at 9:00 am and is filed under Podcast, Virtual Team/Delegation, Wealth Building. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.