First published on Linkedin.
(a discussion I had with myself whilst cycling this afternoon)
Of course, no doubt you would argue that all of us are accountable to the taxman (Nah! – it’s just reporting), customers and so on.
But truly, we are not accountable to anyone! In my case, I don’t have a Board or investors.
Yes, I do have employees, users and customers. But if I decide to pack all in one day, I can! If I decided to be lazy, I can. Yes, there would be consequences of these actions, but the point is, I can, as I don’t report to anyone.
So how do you hold solo founders accountable? Is that a requirement? If so, requirement of whom?
I think the whole notion of accountability is the wrong problem to tackle.
Pause… Maybe I should have a Board. Or at least Advisors. But most founders including me, see them as artificial and not real unless they have skin in the game.
During my review, I realised whilst I have been working very long hours, I have actually become complacent. I have not split my time across the 5 businesses I want to build. Two (4 and 5 below) I seem to have totally ignored. This has to change.
Change is the only constant.
Working from home, whilst seem highly productive has also kept me in my own bubble. I’ve refused to take on calls where I could not see a clear synergy. This has removed any new ideas creeping in, even the time spent is seen as less productive.
So I’ve decided to allocate my time across these on daily basis, knowing fully I would have to say a lot of NOs:
1. Techcelerate – 1 team member
2. SkilledUp Life – 15 team members
3. Deal Lite – 11 team members
4. Progress Hero – none (call on two when needed)
5. Fund – none (call on one when needed)
6. Mine and family time
(2) to (5) are developed for Techcelerate Member companies and their Founders.
Now how to track – I’ve used Toggl Track in the past, but without real discipline, it’s useless as any other tool.
Until now I adopted a strategy of responding to those who shoutest the loudest. But this strategy isn’t gonna get me results.
Anyway, above was one of the 4 things I reviewed whilst cycling today.
Love to hear your thoughts. What do you struggle with the most?
#solopreneur#solopreneurship#founderstories#founderlife#techstartups#techcelerate#deallite#progresshero#techceleratefund
Update
