Hi there and welcome to the Everyday Entrepreneur podcast where I, Caitlin Fritz help you reach your entrepreneurial potential. Together we can build your dream social impact business so that you can leave a legacy beyond your nine-to-five. Hello, hello. Welcome to this episode of Everyday Entrepreneurship. I'm your host, Caitlin Fritz. I am an award winning entrepreneur, enterprise educator, and business coach who has supported over 650 founders across the globe to build, grow, and scale their impact led businesses. I have been in your shoes. I absolutely know what it's like. to start from the ground up and bring your idea to life. And today I want to share with you some insider knowledge on knowing yourself before onboarding anyone else. I've been recently asked to give a talk around team and talent, and I've been really engaged with various accelerator programs. And I want to give you a behind the scenes take. So my first rule is, one, know yourself before you onboard anyone else. Because let's get real, you're probably like where I was, doing 400 different things. I mean, we are talking emails, newsletters. Consultation calls, one to ones, workshops, making products, etc. And you might be feeling like you're falling short on all of them. Maybe you're at that point where you're looking at your inbox, looking at your to do list, and realize, Hey, I need to start building a team. But is that full-time? Contractors, freelancers, interns. It is a mind field, and I have been there. I know hundreds of other entrepreneurs who have been there as well. And that is why before you even create a job description, before you even. Start scrolling through Fiverr or Upwork. Take a minute to audit your own skills. We as founders get so caught up in the day to day that we often forget our own superpowers. What I'm asking you to do is really take time aside. I mean, I would take 20 minutes. I created a worksheet, an entire workbook, really, on this concept, which I will link in the show notes. And ask yourself some core questions. So what are things you are doing right now? What are the things? Make a list. I mean, get granular. Are you creating social media? Are you making TikToks? Are you taking client calls? Are you doing invoicing? Are you doing your books? Make that list known. I would ask yourself, what have you done in the past in your professional life, in your personal life, in your volunteer life? What skills, talents, um, even hard skills have you experienced or knowledge in? What areas or industries do you have expertise in? You might be building a business in the education space, but have tons of knowledge in the consulting or management space. I'm telling you there's probably a little bit of overlap, but just take stock of what industries you have really excelled in. And then I like to ask myself or any founder these four tough questions. One, what do you love doing? and it is your zone of genius. This is where you excel. This is where you enter flow. Time can fly by. You love what you're doing and you produce your best work. Then what are you good at? You might be excelling at, but you don't enjoy doing. These are those things that you can create top notch work, but you'd much rather be doing something else. For me, that was doing a lot of, like, press releases. Yes, I can communicate, but I'd much rather be using those communication skills somewhere else. Then, ask yourself, what do you like or love doing but are bad at? This is the one that often gets people stuck. But for me, I really enjoy making websites. I think it's so much fun to come up with it and do plug and play, no code, et cetera, but it will take me way longer than someone who, Zona's genius is in web creation. And lastly, this is the one that people I think find the most easy. What are things you dislike, I would even maybe say the word hate, that you also don't like doing. Yeah, be honest. And I made a little matrix in the workbook, which I will share with you, that allows you to outline these strengths and really understand where are you best suited and where are your weaknesses. Because What you want to do is bring on that additional support, help, resource in those areas you are either struggling at, are bad at, um, or really overwhelmed in. And this is the first tool I recommend when you're thinking about expanding your team. Because, for example, I love doing web development. I would love to make more websites, but that's probably not the most efficient use of my time. My time has a better ROI doing hands on work with entrepreneurs, with accelerators, and with incubators. Someone else's time, like a freelancer, might be better suited to make those webpages for me. And, Why I also think this is important as well is as you grow, if you aim to grow your business from a team and resource perspective, you need to be aware of yourself, your skills, and your time. Oftentimes, I've worked with founders where they want to control everything. Trust me, I've been there, recovering perfectionist and all, but There comes a point where we need to let go. It is scary, it is frightening, it gives me goose bumps sometimes, but by letting go, especially of those areas where our weaknesses lie, the entire business will succeed and thrive. By loosening the reins, bringing in someone where their zone of genius aligns with your zone of dread. You will be able to maximize your time, your energy, and your effort, and it is like your business can be built on rails. Now I know this is just a really snappy quick episode on knowing yourself and knowing your weaknesses, but this is one area I'm really interested in and I'd love to hear if you are too. Thank you. around startup leadership, because it's not enough to build an amazing business, have an incredible offering, product, or service. We as entrepreneurs, We are stewards of our business mission, of our business impact. And I really want to support and empower founders to be able to wear that leadership hat with honor and pride and excitement. So if you can take one thing from this conversation, know yourself, audit your skills, and really get the ins and outs of your strengths and weaknesses. before you onboard anyone else. That is my short and snappy take for you this week. I am looking forward to bringing you more incredible interviews, conversations, and really practical insights. So listen in and, uh, be in tune on YouTube as well, where we will be offering some really awesome practical exercises that you can implement in your business. So thank you for listening. If you want to leave a review. Comment below. I'm excited to hear from you all of the time. Until next time, this is Everyday Entrepreneurship. Thank you for joining me for this episode of Everyday Entrepreneurship. To stay tuned and most up-to-date, subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts. You can follow me Caitlin Fritz on Instagram. And if you have any questions about building your business with Impact, drop me an email with the link in the show notes.