Incompetence is defined as “lack of ability to do something successfully or as it should be done”.
There is a fundamental reason why most new business owners are incompetent and once you understand it you can do something about. Michael Gerber in his award-winning book the E-Myth Revisited explains that most business owners are technicians and not entrepreneurs.
The entrepreneurial myth (The E-Myth) is the myth that people who start small businesses are entrepreneurs. The fatal assumption made is that an individual who understands the technical work of business can successfully run a business that does that technical work.
Think about that for a moment. Basically we are saying that a competent technician starts off in business as an incompetent entrepreneur. There is a vital distinction between working on your business and working in your business that is too often overlooked. It is all too easy to fall back into your comfort zone as a technician when business gets tough.
Remember. You should only do what only you can do. Other people can do the technical work for you while you concentrate on growing the business. There are skills, procedures and techniques that you can learn to help you work on and not in the business. Systems to help you to replicate the way you work so that you successfully delegate and don’t abdicate. Obviously, you may choose to work in the business when you want to so long as you don’t neglect your entrepreneurial duties.
