The Five Step Path to Self-Knowledge

2012 | Jun 8 in Podcast , Leadership

By Justin Dye, Marketing Coordinator

This week's podcast is brought to you by the 2012 State of the Business Owner Report.

Today, we talk about self-knowledge.

In this episode we discuss:

1. How to discover the impact you have on your employees and customers
2. Five exercises to lead you to a better understanding of your role as a leader

 

The Five Step Path to Self-Knowledge

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Next Week's E-Myth Business Challenge:

"Paul owns a business that distributes industrial plastics to engineers and machinist companies.

Back in 2007, the company launched an online web store that managed strong growth year on year.

The company has employed no marketing or promotional activities outside of the web store’s advertising campaigns on Google, and the odd haphazard email shots.

Sales growth has recently slowed and Paul has come to a crossroads as to which is the best way to move forward and keep the company growing towards its objective. Should he:

(a) Hire a marketing person, train them up and hand over the responsibility to them?

(b) Engage an outside marketing company who have experts in the many skills required to handle the advertising and promotion?

(c) Keep the responsibility and position for himself, study, fit in the work required during his workday and outsource some key skills from a marketing company?

(d) Hire a marketing person and also outsource some key skills of a marketing company?"

You can give us your answer below, or email us at podcast@e-myth.com. Be sure to listen next Friday to hear the answer.

Comments

1. Rebecca H. says:

   If sales growth is slowing, Paul doesn't have the leisure to study and then train someone. He can hire a firm to develop a strategy for him and give him the steps he needs to follow. If it's more economical to do some of the steps in-house, he could then hire someone to implement the strategy -- but often, for something like this, the variety of skills involved makes it cheaper to hire a firm than to do everything in house.

   Part of my response to this is based on the nature of the business, but it's often better to hire a company to cover specialized and varied tasks such as those involved in fulfillment or web marketing. One person can rarely do all the jobs involved, and the costs tend to be higher without the economy of scale enjoyed by a specialized firm.

   Submitted Jun 8, 2012 11:40 AM

2. Mike L. says:

   I'd look at this as a 'none-of-the-above' fits well.  The key (to me) is the word haphazard.  There seems to be no plan in place. 

   Paul should start at the beginning.  This is pretty much a classic, non-systemized department.  Of course the uniqueness in the beginning of the startup caused sales to increase.  Unfortunately, without a plan for growth, a plan for marketing and a plan for hiring, there is absolutely no potential in the future. 

   Paul shouldn't hire anyone as yet.  He also doesn't need to learn the work or try to fit it into his schedule.  He should, however, apply his skills as a leader, identify the goals of the webstore, identify the budgets, and, before hiring anyone, prepare a complete description of the position, the function, the duties and the responsibilities... along with the goals. 

   Then, once he has spent some quality time working ON this part of his business, he can move forward with a little knowledge. 

   Submitted Jun 14, 2012 8:34 AM

3. Linda T. says:

   I'd suggest "b":

   (b) Engage an outside marketing company who have experts in the many skills required to handle the advertising and promotion.

   Two of the four choices offered suggested hiring someone. Since sales have slowed, Paul may not have the funds to hire an additional employee, and he probably does not have time to train them in marketing.

   The best choice is to engage an outside marketing firm that has years of experience in Internet marketing and that specializes in the fields where Paul and his customers reside. Yes, there are Internet marketing firms who specialize in the B2B/Industrial/Manufacturing sectors. A Google search will reveal them to Paul.

   Submitted Aug 5, 2012 9:12 AM