Are You Wearing Too Many Hats in Your Business?

This summer, I took my first true summer vacation in a long time. And despite (or maybe because of) nearly drowning, I had a great time.

I may be dramatizing a bit, but we did have a wild river adventure. My dad suggested we go tubing, which sounded like a relaxing way to cool off. Not so much.

For those of you who are thinking of how it is tubing the Salt River, much to my surprise, my tubing experience was not at all like that. This was a mountain river running at full speed due to a long and snowy winter.

Let’s just say that I have a new appreciation for nose and earplugs.

I should have taken a clue from the girl who rented us the tubes when she clearly stated that we should not wear anything in the river that wasn’t strapped on. I took her advice. The rest of my party did not, including my husband Mike.

He decided he had to have a hat on and decided to wear mine. Luckily, I didn’t really like that hat because it’s no longer with us.

Yep, that’s right, he lost my ball cap. But neither of us miss it. I had another at the ready because I’d packed a spare from the extensive collection we have at home.

We have so many ball caps he could have floated several down the river and it wouldn’t make a dent in the stash. We, in fact, have more ball caps than is reasonable for two professionals who only wear them on weekends and during vacation.

We’re like most entrepreneurs and business owners who have an abundance of hats. Only instead of filling a drawer with them, most try to wear all their hats at once. It looks ridiculous and defeats the purpose altogether.

When you try to do it all in your business, you end up doing none of it very well.

I’ll be the first to admit that I have this problem. This last year is the perfect example. As many of you know, Melissa Perkins, our long-time account manager, left last spring. I decided not to replace her right away. A lot had changed from when I first brought her on board and I wanted to re-evaluate the role and figure out what the company really needed.

That’s not what happened. I ended up doing a lot of the work myself. Leaving me feeling overworked and frustrated because I don’t have the time to do the things I need to be doing, like writing this newsletter.

I’ve been trying to wear too many hats. I bet you are, too. Maybe it’s time to let some go. Ask yourself:

• What are you doing that doesn’t bring you joy?
• What are you doing that you aren’t very good at?
• What isn’t being done but needs to be to get your business to the next level?

It’s much easier to let a couple of your hats float away than to have them yanked from your head as you’re pulled underwater. Though maybe they’ll end up with the hat, sunglasses and flip flops that we also lost on our tubing adventure.