Honing Your Entrepreneurial Skills: Reliability

If you’re been reading this blog for a while, you know that one of my biggest pet peeves is flakiness. It’s not a good quality in anyone, but it’s the worst in an entrepreneur because when you own your business, the buck stops with you. If you forget or otherwise fail to do something critical, no one is going to step in and seamlessly fill in.  Many promising businesses go under simply because their founders can’t be trusted to do what they say they’re going to do. 

If you are going to improve one thing in 2015, how about working on your personal reliability? How about being the person that customers, employees, and partners can always count on? Here are six tips to that effect.

Think Before You Promise

You want to help, so when someone asks you for something, your immediate reaction is “yes, of course!” But there are only so many hours in the day, and if you say yes too much, you won’t have time for the important things.  The next time you’re pinged, take a step back and objectively consider whether you have bandwidth to make good on the promise. Saying no now is far better than breaking your word later.

Don’t Overbook Yourself

To the point above, entrepreneurs and small business owners are usually pressed for time. Don’t make things worse by scheduling multiple meetings on top of each other – especially if they are in different locations! You are just asking to get stuck in traffic, at the airport, or even on the phone – leaving others hanging.

Plan for Deadlines

Most people don’t miss deadlines on purpose.They miss them because the task takes longer than they expected and they run out of time. Avoid this problem by plotting exactly what you’ll accomplish on a given project every week. You’ll be able to see well in advance if you’re running behind schedule and can make adjustments accordingly.

Ask for Help

Many owners get into jams because they think they are superheroes and can do everything themselves. They don’t routinely delegate and they can’t admit when they’re under water. Realize that calling on extra resources so that you don’t have to sacrifice your reliability is a sign of maturity, not weakness.

Invest in the Right Technology

There are things in life we can control, and things we can’t. Technology is a wonderful asset to our businesses, but it’s not foolproof.  One thing I’ve learned working with Canon is that as an entrepreneur, I can’t afford to have technology that stops while my business is still going. I’ve had my Canon MAXIFY printer for 3 months and have yet to be slowed down by any unexpected problems. In my office, the MAXIFY is joined by multiple laptops and data storage systems, as well as redundant Internet access. This approach greatly reduces the chance that I’ll let a client down because something broke.

Be Honest About Foibles

No matter how hard you try, there are going to be times when you just can’t come through. Instead of trying to sweep a lapse under the rug or pretend a deadline never existed, own up. Sincerely apologize and rectify the situation as best you can. As long as it doesn’t become a habit, people will understand.

Best of luck enhancing your reliability this year – believe me, you’ll be glad you did.  And don’t forget to check out the rest of the posts in this series on business acumen, self-discipline, and productivity.

Canon will be spotlighting several small business owners on its social media channels throughout the next several months, so be sure to leave a comment and share your thoughts on this post using the hashtag #MAXIFY in order to qualify. If you are a U.S.-based small business owner (1-9 employees) and have faced a unique business challenge in your first year on the job, let us know! We’d love to hear what line of work your small business falls within and what you feel is the most important takeaway from this post.

We’ll also be rewarding select small business owners with a prize pack including the Canon Maxify MB5320 printer as well as other essentials to help you run your business more efficiently. So don’t forget to leave a link to your website or social media pages that way we can see how well you’re marketing your business and get in touch!

Comments

[Christine Hassler]

This is so helpful Alexandra. As a life coach and speaker, I am pretty good at all of the above except "investing in the right technology." Since "tech" is not my zone of genius, I end up getting what I think is the best price but I never know if it is the best quality and often get slowed down by tech glitches. I appreciate your insight and recommendation!

[Keith Alperin]

Great post Alex. This one hits home since reliability is a company value of ours. Since starting my business so many years ago (see http://blog.alexandralevit.com/wcw/2008/02/starting-your-o.html) it's been incredibly valuable to have a trusted system to keep things from falling through the cracks. I'm a Getting Things Done devotee, but the specific system is less important than just having one. With a good system in place, any incoming task gets recorded and neither you nor your clients/customers (nor employees, nor family members, nor ...) need to question whether that task will get completed.

[Miriam Salpeter]

Alexandra -
So true, reliability is key for a business owner/entrepreneur's success. These are great tips that can be easy to overlook, especially as a new business owner. I find my clients sometimes try to do too much, especially when they take on projects to enhance their own marketing footprint. When focusing on items outside of their area of expertise, they wind up behind the eight ball when it comes to results.

This is especially true when are doing our "own thing." For example, creating our own social media profiles or websites is as crucial to our work as delivering for our clients, but it often winds up at the end of our "to do" lists. Along with "asking for help," I'd add "hire help when necessary" to get key items done for yourself or your clients!

Thanks for this useful, practical post.

[Selena Rezvani]

I love this topic, Alex - great post. I think that as the workplace becomes increasingly casual, reliability can falter even in the most well-meaning professionals! Your post underscores that peers, customers and associates are still paying attention to whether or not we're prepared, on time and if we deliver what we say we will. Reliability only makes you look good!

[Dean]

I love the first bullet. I am in branding and marketing - a world where almost every job comes with a very tight deadline. In some cases, the deadlines presented by clients are simply unrealistic. Saying no is always a last resort, but sometimes it is the only honest and acceptable answer. I have lost and will continue to lose business because I will say no when I realize we cannot meet a deadline. I always follow it up by presenting a deadline that we can hit and some options for presenting the client to the public in the interim. By operating this way, I know that one thing I will never lose is the trust of my clients.

[Alexandra Levit]

@Dean: I'm the same way. If I can't meet a deadline and still deliver a quality product, I say so. It's better to let them know upfront than not to meet expectations later.

[Alexandra Levit]

@Selena: I hadn't thought about casualness as a causative factor. And you're right - being reliable is never going to backfire!

[Alexandra Levit]

@Miriam: I too have learned the hard way that sometimes you need to hire help to get things done more quickly and efficiently, and/or to leave you time to do what you're best at.

[Alexandra Levit]

@Keith: I'm a David Allen advocate too, and I agree that whatever organizational system works for you and your team is the right one.

[Alexandra Levit]

@Christine: I think tech slows us all down sometimes, but in many cases you do get what you pay for. I had trouble with my cheap web server for years, until I finally bit the bullet and started spending more $. I haven't had a problem since.