The OED definition of an Entrepreneur is someone who starts a business and takes on financial risks in the hope of profit.  

The Entrepreneur has the vision and passion to solve a big problem. They define the culture, inspire the team, and build the business from scratch. In the early stages of business growth, they know everything about the business, have great control and make most of the decisions.

I define a Value Builder as someone who takes what an entrepreneur has created and scales it to the next level.

The Value Builder shares the traits of having a vision, being able to solve big problems, protecting the culture, and driving growth. However, their focus is not on controlling and knowing everything, rather it is on creating the conditions which allows the business and the team to grow and prosper without them in the day-to-day detail.

The Value Builder brings clarity for everyone in the business by defining the strategy to deliver the vision and developing the implementation plan. They bring delegation, focus and accountability to the organisation, and deliver growth through leading and coaching.

Letting Go.....

For the Entrepreneur looking to scale their business, their greatest challenge is in ‘letting go’. To get to that next stage of growth, they must free themselves from their need to know everything and from making every decision.

To succeed, they must be able to delegate. They must be confident that the right things will be done. Most of all they need to trust their people to make decisions and take responsibility.

In our experience, when a business is around £3m to £15m turnover and growth has slowed or stalled, it is often because the business hasn’t made the transition from Entrepreneur-led to Value-Building-led.

Many have hired a top team, have a board of directors, and made many other changes, but still haven’t been able to fully ‘let go’. And this fear of letting go is very understandable. The company is their baby, and they want to make sure their baby is in safe hands and properly looked after.

Making the transition requires a change of mindset and approach from the Entrepreneur. It is a big step change in the way they lead the business, whether they become the Value Builder themselves or hire someone to do it.

Key to being successful is having a leadership framework which enables and supports that transition. Using my bespoke approach, I’ve helped many Entrepreneurs through this transition to unlock the potential in their business, generating rapid growth in sales and profits: see Client Results for more information.

Or get in touch if you’d like to find out more about what I do and how I e do it.