and on-call professionals (such as an accountant and lawyer) to engage in their areas of expertise.
•Implement software and systems. Equip tools, systems, and processes so critical parts of the business can run efficiently and without your constant attention.
•Train your team. You’ll need to bridge the gap as the “expert” and help instruct, coach, and mentor your staff to deliver high-quality products and services and deliver premier customer service just as you would.
Taking actions like those listed above will help you shift from service provider and/or product builder to that of company builder. Your charge is to get out of the day-to-day. Make a commitment today to start draining the swamp and never return.
Remember, draining the swamp is a process. It will take time figuring out how to make sure the secret sauce you bring to the business is disseminated to others. Spend your days focused on the bigger picture rather than focusing myopically on the creation of the product or service. For me, in my first company, this meant I needed to stop being the best in the world at building interactive media. I had to abandon that persona and the praise and excitement that went with it. This kind of identity shift is a difficult task. It’s not familiar or comfortable, especially at first. I understand. Yet it’s critical if you are going to take your business to the next level. Because once you’re past the swamp, there are mountains to climb. Remember those mountains on Entrepreneur’s Island you hardly took notice of? That’s where we’re headed next. So come along, we’ve got quite the journey ahead!
The Entrepreneur’s Paradox: Apply the Principle
•Reinvent yourself as an entrepreneur and not just a skilled specialist or artisan. Stop building the product and start building the business.
•Write down the reasons your product is successful, capturing the recipe you’ve used to make it successful, for example:
-I pay attention to detail in my work.
-I think outside the box when creating my product.
-I’m passionate about what I produce.
-I know what my customers want in the product.
•Write out how these principles can apply to your business as a whole.
•Take one of your full workdays and track all the activities you engage in. Write down everything you do and how much time you spend on each. Mark the FEEDING THE ALLIGATORS column for any activity that doesn’t lead to the strategic enhancement of the company and mark the DRAINING THE SWAMP column for any activity that boosts your business strategy.
•With your list of weekly activities in front of you, start creating a permanent “To Don’t” list. Identify at least ten things you will stop doing or will delegate to others so you can free up your time to focus on creating a better business.
-NOTE: If you are part-time freelancing, moonlighting, or running a “side hustle,” you may not have the resources to hire everybody on the list. If you’re making over 10K a year, spend a few hundred dollars and hire an accountant. Then scale from there.
| Activity | Time Spent | Wrestling Alligators | Draining the Swamp |
| Sorting mail | 15 minutes | x | |
| Working on my five-year business plan | 1 hour, 10 minutes | x | |
| Arranging travel for upcoming client visit | 50 minutes | x | |
| Create onboarding process for new employees | 2 hours | x | |
| Payroll | 1 hour 35 minutes | x | |
| Finishing the logo for a new client | 2 hours 20 minutes | x | |
| Create an org chart of positions needed to take the company to the next level | 1 hour 30 minutes | x | |
| Bookkeeping and filing quarterly taxes | 1 hour 35 minutes | x | |
| Meeting with client and revising graphics for website | 2 hours, 50 minutes | x | |
| Formatting spreadsheet to make it look more presentable | 35 minutes | x | |
| Meeting with a mentor or coach for lunch | 2 hours | x | |
| Identifying a plan to overcome the top three stumbling blocks | 2 hours 10 minutes | x |
A printable activity tracker can be found on the web at EntrepreneursParadox.com/ActivityTracker
1 Nov 12, 2. (n.d.). The Average Age of Successful Entrepreneurs Is Actually 45. Retrieved September 14, 2020, from knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/age-of-successful-entrepreneurs.
Seeing the Swamp and Not the Mountains
“If you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there.”
—Lewis Carroll, author of Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland
I love seeing when the entrepreneurs I work with have the “light bulb moment.” This moment happens when, maybe for the first time, they begin to see past the swamp to the mountain range waiting to take them to new heights. Entrepreneur’s Island has always had mountains, but the monotonous and tiring daily drudge of wrestling alligators distracts entrepreneurs and keeps their attention focused on the swamp. Every start-up has a swamp full of alligators and every start-up has majestic mountains to conquer. The sad truth is that most entrepreneurs never make it past the swamp to begin their ascent. For the lucky ones who find the mountains on the island, they are able to take a completely different journey full of adventure. In the real world as I’ve worked with clients, I’ve heard this realization expressed countless times in more or less the same way: “I didn’t really think about what my company could eventually become because I’ve been so heads down this whole time.”
This is the first light bulb moment, when the entrepreneur sees the mountain and realizes that, if they are willing to completely change their identity and remove themselves from the swamp, they can achieve great things. The second big aha is when they realize their entire reality just shattered and now they have no idea where to start! But like my clients, if you’re willing to break free from the paradox and change your identity from service provider/product builder to business builder, you’re ready to chart a course forward while avoiding the common pitfalls along the way. Pitfall 1 is about seeing past the swamp and jungle thicket and discovering the exciting mountains waiting for you to climb.
Begin with the End in Mind by Picking Your Mountain Range
“Beginning with the End in Mind means to begin each day, task, or project with a clear vision of your desired direction and destination, and then continue by flexing your proactive muscles to make things happen.”2
When forming a start-up, most entrepreneurs don’t “begin with the end in mind” as the late Dr. Stephen R. Covey said. Instead, they start with the beginning in mind. What I mean by this is that most entrepreneurs want to create something cool, that has never been done before, and will change the world. But then what? What’s the next step after you create the next Facebook or TikTok? What do you do with your product or service after you create the idea?
Consider the history of the electric car. If I were to ask you the year, make, and inventor of the first electric car, what would you say? Elon Musk and the Tesla Roadster he released in 2008? How about Nissan and their electric Leaf? As it turns out,