Self-evaluation and business success
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Your stream is a business. Unfortunately, it’s really easy to get caught up in the day to day of running a business. You have to handle the immediately due tasks, plan for what you need to accomplish in the next week or month, and eventually do long-term planning. There’s one asset that most people forget to analyze and it’s themselves, the business owner. In fact, it’s the most valuable asset the business has. You’d be remiss if you ignored it. It’s time for some self evaluation!
Why
I touched on it in the intro, but the biggest why is because your business depends on you. Therefore, you need to know as much as you can about the person upon which your business depends. Could you imagine building a basketball team around a star player without knowing their strengths and weaknesses? Or drafting a Dota lineup where you couldn’t see what your teammates chose?
One major reason to know your strengths and weaknesses is to know where you should focus hiring. You may not yet be in a position to be hiring but you want to be thinking about it well ahead of time. Hiring someone new takes forever. You want to be hiring someone to take draining work off your plate. That person should have a skillset that you don’t have or at least be much more efficient at it.
Let’s take a look at me, since I’ve evaluated myself. I know that I’m really good at in-person interactions, long term planning, keeping project on track, and figuring out how to solve problem. I’m terrible at keeping focused consistently, business development, writing, video editing, and fine detail work. Also, I steer clear of in depth tax work. Ugh, I can’t stand that stuff. That information right there tells me where I should look first when hiring or outsourcing. I want to keep the things I like and I’m good at while moving the others off my plate.
What
Ok, so what kinds of things should you evaluate? Honestly, I think it’s anything that you think is relevant to your business. Each business will be different. Some of the basics should apply across industries like focus, long-term planning, marketing, business development, or technical skill. Others will be specific to you. I’d suggest that the first thing you evaluate is whether you have a hobby or a business.
For my financial planning firm, it’s really, really important that new hires are comfortable with a virtual environment, passionate about gaming, and willing to learn. If I were hiring for a totally different business it’s possible that none of those would matter.
How
Your best bet is to start with self-reflection. Just sit and think through what you’d consider your easiest and hardest tasks are. Then which you enjoy the most and which always get put off because you can’t stand them. I find I’m best able to accomplish this kind of thinking on a walk without my phone. You probably have a routine that works for you. I love having some paper on hand to write down my thoughts. I find that I’m much more creative on paper.
After that, there are some fun assessment tools that you can use to help highlight other areas that you may not have thought through. Here are some of my favorites:
- Kolbe testing: This one costs some money but you can get a lot of useful information from it. The test is designed to help you find out how you approach problems. This can be extremely helpful information as you might find that the way you most naturally approach problems isn’t supported in your current work environment. Sometimes just changing how you approach work can change your effectiveness.
- StrengthsFinder: I’ve used this one, I think it was worth the $15. This goes through a series of questions to identify your strengths for how you approach work. There is a quick report which goes into the top 5 areas that are the biggest for you and then a larger, much more expensive one that’s more in depth. I think my favorite part of the tools was the action plan piece. I like making a plan (shocking!). My top five, in case you were wondering, are restorative, input, individualization, arranger, and futuristic.
- Career Fit: These next 5 are from a tool I’ve purchased to use with clients and prospects. I think it’s awesome! The career fit quiz is as simple as it sounds. Are you a good match with where you are today? If not, what areas might make more sense.
- Investor Composure: This is valuable for both personal and business investing. The more you know about your tendencies, and the strengths and weaknesses those confer, the more likely you are to make rational investing decisions. That can be hard to do so information is power!
- Wealth Potential: This measures common wealth building traits as put forth in The Millionaire Next Door. You can see how you stack up and in particular which areas you may need to work on or hire to cover. I’m not phenomenal at focus…
- Financial Planning: This is used for personal finances but also extends to business. How are you at tracking things, planning for the future, or implementing plans over time?
- Spending patterns: What drives you to spend? How do you feel about spending? Spending is one of those things we all do but we also all approach differently. Conscientiousness in spending is incredibly important, regardless of if you spend like a profligate or never let go of a penny.
Conclusion
Regardless of the tool you use (if any) self-reflection is an extremely important activity for a business owner. In fact, I’d say over the long term your business depends on you focusing on self-reflection as you build your team.
You don’t have to figure this out alone. This is what we do- help streamers make great money decisions. If that’s something that sounds interesting to you reach out me or schedule some time for a free consult. You can check out what I do here.
