[Post #1 of 4] The curious and unexpected benefits of 13 days of social media isolation…

As I mentioned earlier I said that I would share some of my takeaways from my time

Before I go on; I’ll state that I do love social media – it’s changed my life, almost mostly for the good

It’s a wonderful tool that if used properly, is one of the most useful ones you can leverage (along with email IMO)

Yes it can be used and yes it can take over your life if you let it (that’s something for a later post) but it’s is so brilliant if you’re smart with it

Today is all about one simple thing

Knowing that you are utterly replaceable*

And what I mean by they little asterisk is if you surround yourself with the right people, in the right way who have the right skills; your business – and life – runs perfectly well without you…for a while

It still needs YOU and YOUR magic, but it doesn’t need you – eventually – 24/7

This was the longest I’ve had off in I’m going to say 8-9 years; the most I’ve had away from any groups is a few days if that

This was 13 days and I deleted all the apps off my phone; if I was needed

WhatsApp

Didn’t have my WhatsApp?

Then, by rationale, I wasn’t needed

I 100% couldn’t of done that without the people in this pic (isn’t it an amazing card/gift btw – there’s a mug too) and those people are in my life because I was me

Tega put himself forward off the back of a post I put in here 6 years ago and Sarah replied to an email I blagged getting sent out at a soft play centre

Everyone else simply appeared here, added value over time and then joined the fold when the time was right

Most of them didn’t do what they do for the biz now when I met them but they have innate talents and values and skills that can’t be trained (loyalty, hard work, honesty, empathy to name a few) and were willing to dive in and see what happens

Which leads me to the point of this post

Being replaceable; of course no one can be me (not sure they would want to tbh) but I can’t do it alone – I’ve tried that and it failed

Building a team is one of the best decisions you can make IF you want to ‘claw back’ your time and freedom as they do the things naturally that I can’t do

Equally I can do things that they can do and everyone gets more time, more £ and more freedom

Dumbest shit I see is people recruiting team members then moaning about the cost

It’s not a cost

It’s an investment in THEM and YOU

I gave everyone free reign to do and post what they wanted and – if they chose to – to step up (which they did)

As proud of them as I was before I left I’m even more so now

That and it’s taken a lot of pressure of just shoulders; dad is still on the final journey and there’s gonna be times when I’m needed here or simply won’t be able to ‘dan’

When that happens?

I know everyone’s in safe hands

Hope that’s given you some insights and maybe a nudge for those that are on the fence with growth of your teams; it’s a risk that’s always worth taking if you know how to do it right

– fortunately I do –

Next instalments are a bit ‘spicy’ but I’m not going to hold back as there were a few things that knocked me for 6 and took a few days to get clear on

Get ready for the rollercoaster…