[Small Business Leader] Are you Suffering from Entrepreneuritis?

By Marian Banker

Today a client introduced me to a new term, "entrepreneuritis". Since I hadn't heard the term, I asked her what it was. She said it's that syndrome that says "I can do it all myself; I want to do it all myself, I have to do it all myself. These are all my ideas, my way of doing things and no one else can do it as well. And I'm feeling overwhelmed because I need to grow my business but I'm so busy doing everything myself, I don't have enough time to do the things that bring in business."

Being curious, I decided to do some research myself. There seem to be varying definitions of entrepreneuritis. Robert Sher in his blog article, The Path between Entrepreneuritis and Myopia. says "Entrepreneuritis is where you can't stop yourself from jumping on every new business idea that pops into your head. Having a clear definition of your business will aid you in steering the course between entrepreneuritis and myopia". He also warns, "avoid being too rigid in your niche. If you're not growing your business in some way you're in trouble".

The Blue Jeans Virtual Assistant in her blog article, Do You Have Entrepreneuritis? says, "As a small business owner I must learn how to do everything myself (spending countless hours learning it sometimes) and must grab on to each new idea that comes my way or through my inbox, learn it and move on to the next thing. As a result most likely I have a list of unfinished projects on paper, in an idea journal or on the computer."

Donna Maria calls it Entrepreneur's ADD and defines it as 1) too many ideas at one time, no execution of any; 2) can't think what to do with an idea. In her article, 3-Step Cure for Entrepreneur's ADD, she actually offers some tactics she used to cure herself.

I think all entrepreneurs occasionally have bouts with entrepreneuritis, even if they didn't know what to call it. Of course, when it becomes chronic, it can become a problem and really hold back your business. Part of the argument I often hear is "I can't afford to hire someone to do other tasks". They don't have the money to pay someone else now, so they just keep doing it themselves. Bottom line: you can't grow your business until you can begin to hand off tasks. It's like the chicken and the egg.

I remember the first time I hired someone to help with my e-mail communications. I didn't really have the money to pay her, but I decided to make the investment in my business. I quickly learned how valuable it was to be able to hand off tasks that had taken me hours to do. Now I had more time to spend on what only I could do in the business.

For some alternatives to doing it all yourself, read my article, Delegation and Teamwork, for some ideas and examples of how to start letting go a little bit and giving yourself the solid support you need to grow. If you're really serious about getting your business to the next level, don't let entrepreneuritis keep you down.

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One of the great ways you can hand off tasks is by finding others with whom you can create a mutually beneficial alliance, joint venture or partnership. Learn how to put this to work in your business in the forthcoming Successful Partnership Workshop, which starts October 14th. In 4 weeks you will incorporate the principles of successful partnerships and have your growth-oriented partnership plan working.