What’s Holding Your Business Back? (Hint: It Might Be You)
What is the biggest liability to your business right now?
I’m not talking about the economy or external factors…
I’m talking about you.
What’s the thing that only you can do in your business?
That, friend, is your biggest liability. And here’s what’s great:
Your biggest liability can become your greatest strength.
Let’s talk about how by talking about a guy named Stevin John and how he made $20 million dollars by overcoming his greatest liability: himself.
One day, much like any other day, I recruited my TV co-parent to distract my children and give me 20-30 minutes of “peace.” As I turned on Stevin John’s YouTube show, Blippi, I noticed the man on the screen was not Stevin John, the Blippi I had come to know.
“That’s not Blippi,” I said… a little bit confused.
My toddler looked at me with his signature side eye and said, “No. That is Blippi, Mama.”
As per usual, he was right. (He hasn’t yet discovered lying.)
Apparently any spry young man can deck the orange spectacles, suspenders, and bow tie to become the one, the only, Blippi.
Similar to Mickey Mouse—the suit makes the mouse. Or, in this case, man.
I knew enough not to argue with a two year old further, and…
I also knew that wasn’t the real Blippi.
After a brief dip down a Google search rabbit hole, I was delighted to discover that Stevin John, the creator behind Blippi, is a mid-thirties toddler dad who once pooped on a friend in a viral YouTube video (that predated his eventual launch into kid friendly entertainment and fame) and STILL managed to sell his kid friendly IP for literal millions.
As I sat there applauding his journey, I couldn’t help but think of all the entrepreneurs I meet who think that they can’t possibly delegate certain things in their business because no one else can do it like they can.
Or even me, myself, who often struggles to delegate not because I don’t think other people can do the things or can’t do them better than me (I hire them because I know they can do better than me), but because I’m trying to “save” them from things being hard or uncomfortable.
Stevin John overcame these two leadership and growth hurdles, to the tune of $20 million.
Those two hurdles, costing approximately $10m per hurdle, to put a simple price tag on em, are:
1. The special snowflake speed bump, and
2. The super hero high jump
Let’s break them down.
The special snowflake speed bump
Strevin John created Blippi from his own mind palace. He gave Blippi a voice, cadence of speech, manner of movement, vision, direction, and embodied the character for years.
But Blippi is a character. A concept. Not Stevin John himself. Blippi is an idea. And an idea? You can sell.
Anyone who can match the brand and vibe and standard set by Stevin John (and maybe… even do a better job?? I happen to find new Blippi more tolerable on repeat to the original Blippi—no shade meant to Stevin) can BE Blippi.
The super hero high jump
A few years back, a coach told me it was time to hang up my cape and retire. I could no longer run around saving everything. This has led me down a long road of peeling back onion layers of why I am the way I am, but more than anything else, I’ve learned:
It’s about releasing control without releasing the standard.
Stevin John created a system and a standard. With a system and a standard, he didn’t need to don the cape (or orange spectacles, suspenders, and bow tie) any longer.
Stevin created the standard of who and what Blippi is as well as a system, or container, to hold the concept of Blippi within.
I doubt Stevin is on set coaching the new Blippi on how to be Blippi.
Rather, new Blippi had literal HOURS of game tape to watch and learn from, and, before becoming Blippi, he first had to go through (I’m sure) rounds of auditions to ensure he could fill the Blippi shoes.
With these “processes” in place, there was no saving required once new Blippi took over. Stevin could release control without releasing the standard.
Thanks for the reminder, Blippi.
So what about you?
In what ways are you currently running the business marathon and continually being confronted by the special snowflake speed bumps and the super hero high jumps?
What I know to be true is that, because you’ve gotten this far in your business, you have already learned how to navigate these challenges. However, no matter where you are on your path to releasing control without releasing the standard, there is more you can be getting off your proverbial plate.
The truth is, the more you release, the stronger your business will become. When your business relies on you or you and one other person to succeed or fail, your business is in danger.
When your business can rely on a collective wisdom that operates off of established standards — your business is strong.
This is why I am committed to teaching business owners how they can decentralize near everything away from themselves in their business. Redundancy is not a bad word in business when we’re talking about creating systems that make you… irrelevant.
Innovation, leadership, your revenue engine, marketing, and delivery do not have to rely on you forever.
This is how you’ll be more free.
Here’s to becoming irrelevant, in all the best ways.
