Over on his Planning, Startups, Stories blog, Tim Berry describes his Worst-Ever Business Plan Engagement in which the founders of a startup business abdicated the responsibility of their business plan to him, an MBA graduate student at the time. Tim's story is a great lesson in the importance of business owners "owning" their projects.
The majority of my professional career has been working as an "outside consultant" to small business owners. During that time, I've noticed a strong relationship between how much "ownership" an owner has in a project and the success of that project. Some small business owners want to do everything themselves, even if they do hire outside professionals. They tend to micro manage the process and ignore the advice of others. On the other end of the spectrum are the owners who want to tell someone what to do, have them go away and then return later with a completed product.
The most successful projects that I have worked on have been for small business owners who fall somewhere in the middle of that spectrum – they trust and listen to the advice of the professionals that they hire, but they also take responsibility for the vision and success of the project. They delegate various tasks and responsibilities, they do not abdicate their responsibility for the project to others. I have found this to be true for developing small business marketing plans, software development projects, and accounting projects.
Don't take this post to mean that I think small business owners need to do everything themselves. I am a proponent of outsourcing and working with professionals. As a small business owner, your marketing plan is the plan for accomplishing your goals and dreams – get lots of help, but don't turn over you dream.
Just remember, delegate, don't abdicate.
