When we start a new venture, we focus on doing things right. It’s a constant state of learning because we’re trying to figure it all out.

We get proficient at marketing, sales, finances, and on and on and on. We’re focused on doing things right.

But we’re doing all the things.

This is normal for a boot-strapped business. A small team, or a solopreneur, has to do it all because that’s what we can afford. But there is a clear limit to where this will take us.

There comes a time when we need to shift into doing the right things. Discovering what those specific things are is a process. (I’ve found Gay Hendricks’ zone of genius framework that he explains in his book The Big Leap to be helpful for this.)

We find what we’re exceptionally good at, what we’re intrinsically motivated to do and where we add the most value. Then we focus on doing those few things.

That means we have to find people who can take over roles and tasks for us so that we can focus on doing the things we’re uniquely capable of doing for our business. 

This is a big leap for entrepreneurs. We know how to do things right and it can be hard to hand over these responsibilities to people we think may not do them as well as us. Or we think it’s faster for us to do them instead of training someone else.

But at a certain point, we have to let go of doing things right and focus on doing the right things. 

Easier said than done - which is true for everything worth doing in life.