The Case for Sole Proprietorship By Heather Kinzie
I learned a long time ago that in order to move forward in a positive manner , we must take responsibility for our own shortcomings .
Nowhere in my entire career is this belief accentuated than in my years as a Sole Proprietor . The following narrative offers some insight into my work as an entrepreneur and hopefully , will serve to encourage you or otherwise give you some ideas about moving towards success and improvement .
This figurative and literal shortcoming required me to change my mindset and let go of what many sole proprietors hold so dear : turf and territory . Instead , I strived for affiliation and / or alignment with others . At the time , I was mentoring quite a few emerging professionals . In a leap of faith , I “ trained ” a few of them to be consultants themselves . Some would argue I trained my competition and while there is some truth to
Focus isn ’ t always a good thing
When I hung out my shingle , I had ten years of experience in my field and I had specialized in a few key areas . Therefore , I offered concentrated services reflective of my expertise as to “ stick to my niche .” However , within a few years , I found my work didn ’ t take too much extra mental energy or thought . In reality , my “ focus ” had became an excuse for complacency . This posed a significant quandary as my clients were maturing and needed me to help them identify and solve systematic problems affecting the success of their growing business . I needed to accept the responsibility for my shortcoming and develop a broader knowledge of business in general . I found a few mentors in different fields , I joined professional organizations in industries other than my own , and I read . I read a lot – blogs , business journals , white papers – I read , read and read !
Sole proprietors find it difficult to expand
Scalability or “ physical capacity ” quickly became an issue as I could not serve clients who needed “ more than just me .”
This figurative and literal “ shortcoming ” required me to change my mindset and let go of what many sole proprietors hold so dear : turf and territory .
that , my investment resulted in a team of contractors “ at the ready ” to increase my physical capacity . As an added bonus , many of these new contractors developed expertise and found their passion in disciplines I had failed to sustain or develop . In addition , I collaborated with other consultants who chose expansion over turf . All of this enabled my small business to increase its services . As a bonus , I then had the headroom I needed to maneuver and develop a broader set of competencies for myself such as project management , organizational design and continuous improvement philosophies .
Freedom isn ’ t free
Sole proprietorship gave me the freedom to “ do what I love .” I will presume many individuals hang out their shingle for this very reason . However , this freedom has a cost of “ doing what I hate .” In my case , it was the financial work and because I despised it , I failed to make good accounting and bookkeeping a priority . This resulted in inefficient billing processes , terrible record keeping habits and processes , and painful and costly tax preparation . To solve this , I assessed my deficiencies , committed to change my habits and internal processes , and I outsourced my bookkeeping and taxes . This was , initially , very embarrassing and uncomfortable , and it was a costly expense that needed to be managed well .
Similar to my distaste in finance was my aversion to marketing and sales . While many assume and often joke about consultants being egotistical or prideful , the truth is many of us struggle with knowing our value . Subsequently , we find it taxing to pro-actively solicit a client , sell ourselves and / or price our services fairly . I was terrible at it and I struggled
20 January 2017