Recognizing your strengths and weaknesses

If we’ve learned anything from owning a business it’s 1) to not be afraid to ask for help when it’s needed and 2) recognize your strengths + weaknesses as well as those that each team member brings to the company. Just because you THINK you can do everything, doesn’t mean you should nor need to. There are so many moving parts to running a business and we’re here to tell you that it’s okay to not be great at every aspect of it. It is, however, important to know when you should hire or partner with people who know how to do the things you can’t. We like to call this a company game changer!

On our recent Formally Informal episode, we chatted with Brittney + Paige, the owners of The Local, a cafe founded on seasonally fresh ingredients + locally-sourced products in Baroda, Michigan. They talked about how much of a role their family and community played in launching their cafe and how, although they both had restaurant experience... renovations, marketing, food prep + cooking were not areas they were super familiar with. They also joined forces knowing that Brittney would be the one to mainly handle all the numbers and business logistics while Paige’s role would be honing in on the creative tasks like interior design + menu creation!

Here at LEO + LAINE, we have a similar structure. As we have grown, the members we bring on are “filling in the gaps”, supplementing for the areas we need help in + bringing new strengths to the table that others don’t have. When you are the business owner, you may think that by not being able to do everything, you’re failing, but that is where you are wrong. Don’t be afraid to ask for help and remember to start by recognizing where your weaknesses lie. That way you know exactly what to look for in new team members.

Watch episode 04 of Formally Informal, linked here, and subscribe so you never miss out!