I’ve always been a competitive gal. I know it, my friends know it, my rivals know it. I’ve always wanted to be the best in everything I did, from business to horseback riding. I’ve been known to turn a horseback riding “fun day” into a butt-kicking rivalry.
At least that’s how I used to be. Nowadays, I’m more of a zen cowgirl, and hopefully a little softer, a little more patient. I’ve also learned that being a kick-butt gal all the time was bad for my business.
Why Being the Best Can Be Bad for Your Business
Being the best is really cool, but it can also be bad for your business. You see, when you are the best in the business, it usually also means that you are an indispensable asset to your business. It also means that if you ever get hit by a beer truck, bye-bye business. Bye-bye income. Bye-bye money to pay your bills as you recover in the hospital.
If your business can’t run without you, then it means you are in the Self-Employed cashflow quadrant, according to bestselling author Robert Kiyosaki. You employ yourself, and your business can’t run without you.
It might flattering to the ego to think that you are “indispensable.” After all, you are the best in your field and you are the most critical part of your business. It’s a big pat on the ego. But it’s bad for your business because it means you can never walk away from your business, whether for a vacation or because that beer truck showed up out of nowhere.
“Being the best” is one of the primary values of the people in the Self-Employed cashflow quadrant. It’s also one of the values that really gets in the way of building true wealth that lasts.
Why You Want to Hire the Best, Not Be the Best
In contrast, people in the B quadrant, or Business Owner quadrant, don’t care about being the best. Instead, they want to hire or work with the best, brightest, and smartest people they can find. They value having the best team rather than being the best or smartest person in the room.
This is a very important difference when it comes to building wealth. Why? Because once a Business Owner has put the best team together, she can walk away from the business. More importantly, that business will run flawlessly in her absence, and keep generating a stream of steady income for her. Once she walks away from that business, she can then go acquire or build another business, hire another team of fabulous people, and walk away again.
The Difference Between Self-Employment and Business Ownership
Do you see the difference? Both Self-Employed and Business Owners value “the best.” The difference is that the Self-Employed person wants to be the best while the Business Owner wants to hire the best. On the outside, the two might look alike, since both own their own businesses. However, the Self-Employed person is the engine of their business, and they “gut” their business whenever they leave. The Business Owner builds an engine for their business, and can walk away whenever they choose.
What I Know About Working with the Best
I used to not be able to stand not being the best. I had to win. Now I don’t want to be the best, I want to work with the best people. I recently partnered up with a gal who used to specialize in human/internet interaction. She is the best at what she does. She sat down with me for a couple of hours and turned my website upside down. She gave me a whole new perspective on how the website could “flow” so much more logically.
Now, could I have figured out what she showed me? Maybe, given enough time. However, that’s not the best use of my time. If I want to be the best at everything in my business, there are too many things I have yet to learn. I’ll never get through all the learning and start doing. Instead, by working with the best person, my new business partner, I can immediately put her knowledge to work. The website is better overnight. Now that is cool.
Think You Are Better Than Me?
So if you read what I write and think you are better than me, I’m stoked. If you think I’m a dork, then bring it! I hope you are better than me. I keep looking for people to work with, partner with, barter with, spend time with who are better than me. I look to surround myself with people who are better, smarter, faster, and far more fabulous than me.
Are you better than me? I hope so. And I hope you will let me know. Call me, email me, leave me a nasty comment on my blog. Whatever. I want to know. I want to hear from my betters!
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