Did you ever play an instrument? If so, how often did you practice? I took piano lessons through the eighth grade before I quit to play on multiple soccer teams. I had one piano lesson per week and was left to practice on my own. With soccer, I had two practices and one game per week for each team I was on (until high school). Which activity do you think I improved more over the years?
Running a business is a lot like playing an instrument. You can watch YouTube videos to learn the instrument, but it will be difficult to improve without outside help. This is because learning the correct fingering for piano chords, holding your elbow at the correct angle for bowed instruments, or placing your fingers correctly for guitar chords are techniques that can benefit from expert eyes. You’ll progress more quickly and enjoy playing more with outside help.
The same is true for your business. By hiring outside help, you’ll receive an outside perspective on operations, quick identification of inefficiencies, custom solutions for specific challenges, and prevention of costly mistakes. What you and your team think is “just fine” could equate to playing your favorite song at half-tempo because you can’t master the chord progressions. Reading business books and getting theoretical knowledge is helpful, but there are blind spots any time we try to self-assess and diagnose.
Many people choose to hire a teacher to help them learn an instrument. This provides immediate feedback on technique, personalized correction of mistakes, and prevention of bad habits, but hiring outside help is only half the battle. Practice is essential to mastering an instrument. You need to work on your own between lessons to not only get the maximum value from the lessons but also make progress. If you don’t practice the principles learned in your lesson, you won’t improve.
Hiring an expert will help you improve, but some of the work must be done on your own. The same is true for hiring an outside consultant for your business. Bringing in someone to improve the way you run your business without actually implementing any changes is the same as not practicing between music lessons.
Success requires commitment in both scenarios. Expert guidance + personal effort = optimal results. You need to commit to implementing change to reap the benefits. Learning the correct elbow position or finger placement is great, but without practicing the changes between lessons you will never improve. The real value of expert guidance lies in implementation.
Your business growth will soar when combined with expert guidance. How can your business play a new tune when you combine your passion and commitment with outside expertise?
Looking to find the “Stairway to Heaven” within your business? Consider hiring outside help to guide you through the difficulty. Beck Insights can help you hit all the right notes, reach out now to start jamming.
