Every Business needs someone to wear the hat of the manager. This hat is the hat of responsibility and procedure. Doing things right is the motto of the manager. He gets the right stuff done at the right time in the right way. Admin, finances, forms, legal and taxes are all done in the correct order. This is often a neglected area of a small business as most owners do not wear or even own a managers hat.

To get the business in a place of sustainable growth the manager needs to visit the business and get these tasks completed. If this is not part of your skill set then outsource these to a bookkeeper, accountant and labour broker before you find yourself having to fill out forms with a lawyer. Manager people do often lack any sense of humour, marketing ability or the risk-taking gene. They struggle to grow a business using any dynamic form of marketing or new concepts.

If you are looking for a manager to join up with you can often find them in phone booths adding up numbers just for fun, or drop by the queue at the SARS office, they are the people standing in the line with a smile on their face. I am married to a Manager person, there is not a day that goes by that I do not give thanks for my wife. She keeps my business on the even keel and can find a form filed years before in just a few minutes. Her filing cabinet is her friend, as are all the window envelopes that arrive each day.

From the people I get to see and consult with each month, most are Techies. People who have learnt a trade in the industry and have gotten to a point that they think they now know everything or enough about what they do to start their own business. Technicians make great business owners because they know what they are talking about. Better a Technician who sucks at business than a businessman who bullsh#ts his way through the sales process.

All businesses need someone to wear the hat of the technician. These are the people who get the job done and know the details of the business down to the smallest nut and bolt. Most small businesses are born from the technician and develop through a series of growth levels, normally from the lounge to garage to wendy-house to factory shop to warehouse.

The problem we see with technical people is the lack of business acumen and procedures. They get the job done but there is little or no paperwork or marketing. Cash flow and planning become huge issues. And they often see their business failing because of some legislative issue like tax or DTI regulations. If you are a Techie then make sure your partner or outsource with a Manager hat to advise you and keep you on the straight and narrow. If sales and new ideas is an issue, then hire a coach or consult with an Entrepreneur hat, they make great company.

The first hat we discuss is that of the Entrepreneur. This for me is the easy place to begin because it is my natural hat. An entrepreneur in simple terms is a risk taker and opportunity seeker. We like to seek out new ideas and concepts and then make a plan to get them to market. This requires vision and energy. The Entrepreneur is one who sleeps with a notebook and pen, so he can awake at 02:45 to make notes for a new business concept. Entrepreneurs have huge imaginations and the word ‘impossible’ is not a part of their vocabulary. They like to take risks and ask questions later. The ‘screw it, let’s do it’ attitude is often hard for others to follow and will lead to frustration for suppliers and contractors or staff who get done with a project only to discover it is already 3 versions behind.

Every business needs some Entrepreneurial input to keep the ideas fresh and moving forward but will also need some form of balance to keep the business on an even keel and cash flush.

If you are like me, a natural Entrepreneur then surround yourself with two types of people, Sounding boards and Managers. You need to speak your ideas to help bring them into focus and let them hatch. Managers will assist you in getting all the paperwork done to keep both you and the business out of the poo.