Are John’s problems unusual? Are his actions that of a business owner whose mind has finally become unhinged? Not at all. John is making the mistake that many small business owners make. Instead of focusing on what he does best and improving on those skills that he has a strong aptitude for, John wants to do it all.

If he worked and studied for years, he would at the very best be a poor accountant. He just doesn’t have the aptitude for it. He can continue to spend money on subscriptions to newsletters on how to get organized and he can continue to purchase organizing tools, bins, baskets, and totes (most of them still empty) but he will never be organized

The Best Doggone Veterinarian in Town

One of my clients, I’ll call him John, is everything you could ever wish for in a veterinarian. He’s kind, concerned, competent, and willing to call in a specialist for cases he doesn’t feel comfortable handling. His office is busy, his staff pleasant, and service is good. But John has a problem. He’s exhausted. From the time he started his practice twelve years ago, he’s been doing all the accounting, tax preparing, human resources, dealing with insurance companies, banks, labor surveys, building maintenance, and calls from sales people while trying to work full time as a veterinarian. As such, his accounting is a mess, his tax returns haven’t been filed for five years, and office policies and procedures allow unproductive employees to continue receiving a paycheck.

The Hair Loss Isn’t Mange—It’s Stress!

Meanwhile, John is pulling his hair out all day long. He’s starting to look like a dog with mange. His staff is continually asking him routine questions, he’s taking one unnecessary phone call after another, and chaos hangs like a storm cloud over his head everyday. John hires an accountant to straighten out years’ worth of problems with his books but still keeps his hands in the process. He has the accountant take care of his books but still insists on being the one to cut the checks and sometimes he enters credit card charges and sometimes he doesn’t. The accountant spends hours each month trying to figure out what John has done and fix his errors. He shies away from having a CPA handle his tax problem because he is determined to fix the problem on his own. Because he’s already overwhelmed with his practice, the tax problem doesn’t get fixed. Even worse, John drags the problem around with him everyday; feeling the pressure, the stress, knowing that with every tick of the clock the problem is getting worse.

John decides to rent a second office so he can get away from his office to get his taxes done. And still John is exhausted and overwhelmed. His tax problem continues to drag on. The problems in his office still all land on his desk. And he continues to handle them feeling stressed, frustrated, and helpless.

Chasing Your Own Tail?

Are John’s problems unusual? Are his actions that of a business owner whose mind has finally become unhinged? Not at all. John is making the mistake that many small business owners make. Instead of focusing on what he does best and improving on those skills that he has a strong aptitude for, John wants to do it all.

If he worked and studied for years, he would at the very best be a poor accountant. He just doesn’t have the aptitude for it. He can continue to spend money on subscriptions to newsletters on how to get organized and he can continue to purchase organizing tools, bins, baskets, and totes (most of them still empty) but he will never be organized