That’s right, eventually you’ll need to have other people join you. While your hope may be that your business prospers beyond your wildest dreams, and you picture yourself sipping margaritas on a sunny Caribbean island, many of you haven’t given any thought to who will help get you there.

Guess what: your enviable success might be months or years away but you need to put things in place now for someone to step in and take over. And the sooner you start doing that, the smoother, more efficient (and more profitable) the transition will be.

Now, I realize that some of you are countering with the objection that things might change between now and then. My response? If you keep thinking about who you’ll need to follow you (and you redefine it as necessary) you will still be better off than if you were to wait until you wake up one day with the realization that you should have hired someone a couple of months ago. (Believe me, it happens a lot that way).

So here’s what to do: Think about what you will need most when your business hits the big time. Are you a visionary CEO who will need a detail-oriented COO to get keep things going? Are you an effective sales person who will need a CFO to keep you grounded in real numbers? Are you currently manufacturing things in your spare bedroom and you think you need someone who is skilled at getting a factory floor running? Are you a craftsperson who needs an admin assistant to manage your time and a salesperson to win more customers? Are you an artist who will need a booking agent and a publicity rep?

If your business is successful today, and you’re continuing to focus on the right things, you’ll eventually get to the point where you need to add someone else in some role. Don’t get intimidated by the process or by the sense of “losing control” over the thing you’ve built. Those are natural feelings that every entrepreneur feels but they must be fought.

So the first thing you should do is set up structures that will allow for that new person (whoever they are and whenever they join you) to step into the role. This might mean learning a bit about bookkeeping (or hiring a bookkeeper) to file your papers in a way that make sense for the financial person you’ll bring on board. Or, this might mean thinking about your sales funnel now and charting it out (perhaps with the help of an expert) so that a salesperson who eventually joins your staff will be able to integrate themselves quickly.

And, don’t think that a person has to come on board full-time right away. There are a number of really workable interim solutions (outsourcing or part-time or freelance or high school coop placements, etc.) that are good “middle ground” steps to help you make the transition.

Related posts:

1. Tales from the front lines: A project that is spinning out of control
2. Customer-to-Client: How to Make the Transition

Project Management gone wrong #1: ‘Sam’ was a web design freelancer who was hired by a multinational corporation to help them create a user-friendly web-based educational tool. Unfortunately, the details of the project changed frequently. Even the name of the project changed an unbelievable 6 times over the course of the project! Sam did his best to make each change as it reared its ugly head but he found that there were simply so many changes to be made that he quickly burned through the pre-determined budget trying to match existing content to the company’s inability to decide on anything; no money was spent on new content. The result? Sam delivered a project but it fell into disuse quickly. Sam didn’t have a good experience working with the company and the company was disappointed with the results so they never hired Sam again.

Project Management gone wrong #2: ‘Maria’ worked in an IT department at a large organization. She was given a budget and assigned to complete a software conversion that would see some of the company’s data converted into a different format. As time went on, however, the budget was adjusted by the CFO who felt that she didn’t need as much money as she did. Later, a delay in the project caused by previously unforeseen conversion issues meant that she reached the end of her budget without completing the project. The CFO told her that no further funding was available. Maria moved on to other projects and the conversion that she hoped would be her key to a promotion was shelved indefinitely.

Project Management gone wrong #3: ‘Erika’ was a freelance writer who was contracted by an organization to create new hire manuals. The project started, then faltered, as the Recruiting and Training manager decided to revamp the learning path of new hires. The project re-started, then faltered again as several managers in the client organization disagreed on the expected outcomes of the manuals. The project re-started, then faltered yet again, as the Director of Human Resources explored the possibility of revising the project to include other manuals as well. With every re-start, the budget burned up because Erika needed to get up to speed on the changes.

These 3 stories are true. They all took place within the past 6 months. They all happened to people I know.

If you look closely at the stories, you’ll note that each one experienced some problem related to the three elements of project management: scope, budget, and time. While each one had a primary issue (Sam’s was scope, Maria’s was budget, and Erika’s was time), every element is interrelated and one impacts the others.

What is needed here is strong project management. After all, each of these are indeed projects. But organizations simply pass the entire project to one person – an internal employee or an outsource professional – who is hired to do one thing (complete the work) but is actually expected to do two things (manage the project and complete the work).

Simply put, a project manager is needed as well. Project management requires a unique set of skills and talents and training that Sam and Maria and Erika (and others) may lack. These professionals were skilled in their area of expertise but were not as interested in doing the work of project management.

Project management requires skills in resource management, negotiation, customer service, creative problem solving, and there’s even some political savvy needed.

Ironically, project management seems like an additional layer in the hierarchy of a project but it is an essential layer that results in greater benefit than if the project management role was folded into the role of the person performing the work. A project manager?

• Can keep all parties on track and keep the flow of information moving.

• Acts as a conduit of communication to make sure all parties are talking about the same things.

• Saves time and money by keeping projects moving and ensuring that budgets are spent wisely.

A project manager seems like an additional layer in the project but the result is the same as the equation 1+1=3. The very presence of a project manager adds value to a project by ensuring that the scope, budget, and time all work in unison so the project finishes successfully.

A project that finishes successfully starts with a project manager. If you have a project – whether large or small – you can ensure its accurate and timely completion with someone shepherding it through the creation process. If you have a new initiative at work, or if your business has evolved and requires a solution, or if you’ve been tasked with creating internal or customer-facing content, don’t start with the creation of the work. Don’t ‘roll up your sleeves’ and dive in. Don’t go looking for a freelancer. Start with a project manager. And that will be an investment into the successful completion of your project!

When you succeed, I succeed,

Heather Villa, CMA, MBA, MSM

Related posts:

1. Project management best practice: The report
2. Horror story from the front lines of project management
3. Project Management Success Requires Flexibility