I’ve been thinking recently about how strange running a business actually is. Most of us start a business because we’re good at something. You might be a great electrician, builder, hairdresser, engineer or consultant. In my case, it was accountancy.

I’d spent years working in accounts and business management, so when it came to understanding numbers, tax and accounts, I was on fairly familiar ground. But running an accountancy practice? That’s completely different.

Suddenly you’re not just an accountant. You’re responsible for finding clients, looking after employees, marketing, technology, pricing, customer service and deciding where the business is going next. Nobody hands you a manual for all of that.

The longer I’ve been in business, the more I’ve realised something. I’m never going to be good at all of it. And actually, I don’t think I need to be.

I see the same thing with clients. I’ve met some incredibly talented business owners over the years. They’re brilliant at what they do, but then they’ll say something like, “I’m useless with the numbers” or “I haven’t got a clue about marketing.” Perhaps they’re thinking about taking on their first employee and suddenly realise they’ve never actually managed anyone before. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that. Why should someone who has spent 20 years becoming brilliant at their trade suddenly know how to manage cash flow, create a marketing strategy and become a great employer?

You learn as you go. I’ve certainly had to.

When I first started Swan Saunders, I was involved in pretty much everything. Partly because I had to be, but if I’m completely truthful, probably also because I liked knowing what was going on! As the business grew, that became harder. There comes a point where trying to be involved in everything doesn’t make you a good business owner. It just makes you very busy.

That’s something I’ve had to learn myself. Recently, I’ve finally reached the point where my team are taking responsibility for our compliance work. That has been a big change for me. I’ve had to trust people, delegate and accept that somebody else might do something differently to the way I would do it. I’m still involved with my clients, of course. In fact, the whole point of making the change was to give me more time to sit down with them, understand what’s happening in their businesses and have better conversations.

Something else I’ve learned is how important it is to have good people around you. And I don’t just mean employees. Over the years I’ve built relationships with people I trust in HR, marketing, legal services, financial advice, IT and lots of other areas. If a client asks me something outside my expertise, I’m quite comfortable saying, “That’s not my area, but I know somebody who can help.” I think there’s a temptation when you run a business to feel that you’re supposed to know everything. You aren’t. I don’t, and after more than 20 years in business and finance, I’m still learning.

I have my own business coach. I regularly talk to other business owners. I ask my team what they think, and sometimes I change my mind after those conversations. That’s probably one of the biggest things I’ve learned. Asking for help isn’t a sign that you don’t know how to run your business. Quite often, it’s exactly what a good business owner should be doing.

It’s also something I see through my mentoring work. Someone might sit down with me thinking they need to talk about sales. We start talking and realise that sales aren’t really the problem. They’re already too busy. What they actually need might be someone else in the business, then that conversation turns into recruitment, delegation, pricing or even what they actually want from their business in the first place.

I don’t sit there pretending I have all the answers, that’s not what mentoring means to me, sometimes I’m simply the person on the other side of the table asking questions and helping somebody untangle everything that’s going around in their head. I know how valuable that can be because I need it myself. Perhaps that’s the bit of business ownership we don’t talk about enough. You can be very good at what you do and still occasionally have absolutely no idea what to do next. I’ve certainly been there, and I’m sure I’ll be there again. But these days I’m much more comfortable with it.

I’ve realised that being a good business owner isn’t about knowing everything. It’s about understanding what you’re good at, recognising what you’re not good at and surrounding yourself with people who can fill those gaps.

So if you’re running a business and occasionally feel like you’re making it up as you go along, I suspect most of us are, at least some of the time.

You don’t need to have all the answers. Sometimes you just need to know who you can talk to when you don’t

Glenn’s Notebook – Business, life and everything in between.