This week's Information

It’s your business, and you must never let someone else make all the decisions on what’s right and what’s wrong without your input.

I was recently speaking with a woman who has followed many of my suggestions over the years. She told me that she had hired a business development consultant to help build her company. The problem was she thought I told her to get out of the way of the consultant and allow him or her to completely run things. Meanwhile, ever since she let her consultant take over her business, things weren’t working out very well, and her business was not moving forward as she had anticipated.

Letting go of control and taking hands off is a huge mistake. Hiring professionals does not relieve us of our responsibility to oversee our own business. We must make certain the consultant is giving us what will best serve our company while allowing us to reach our goals. There’s only one way to do this. It is imperative that we take an active role in this process.

It doesn’t matter whether you are dealing with your business or some other part of your life. You have to play an active role in the situation.

As an example, I often tell a story that happened to me a few years ago.

While jogging, I accidently stepped into a gopher hole. I sustained a twisted ankle, a two-grade MCL tear to my knee and wound up with an injury to my back. An orthopedic physician suggested physical therapy and prescribed an anti-inflammatory. P.T. solved some of the problems, but I continued to suffer from knee pain. While preparing breakfast one morning, I bent down to get something from the pantry. Suddenly, my knee locked, and the pain was excruciating.

I found another orthopedic doctor who could see me immediately. He injected my knee with cortisone and set up an appointment for me to come back in two weeks so he could take a closer look.

When I returned, I was taken for an X-ray, and told that the doctor would be with me shortly. The doctor came in and told me the X-ray showed him I needed knee replacement surgery immediately.

Well, that I was something I was not expecting to hear, so I told him that I would like to take the X-rays with me to get a second opinion. He became defensive but reluctantly agreed.

I took the X-rays to a friend I trust who is a radiologist. He examined the films and said there was nothing to suggest a knee replacement or any other type of surgery.

If anyone is wondering how my injury relates to business, the answer is simple!

I didn’t relinquish control of my health and well-being to the doctor on his say-so, and we should never give up control to our consultants.

Perhaps the orthopedist really did believe everything he said to me. But my life is my own responsibility. It’s possible that a business development consultant could believe he or she could handle our business without the involvement of the entrepreneur. But, just like our own health, how we handle our business is our responsibility.

We must always be mindful that we are hiring people we hope will have our best interest at heart, and will do the job the way we want. However the only way we can be certain is to stay involved in our business and treat it the same way we treat our personal health.