Is Your Ego Getting in the Way of Your Business?

It feels good to solve customers' problems. They shower you with praise, and you get the satisfaction of feeling needed.

The ego boost can be addictive -- I know it was for me.

The problem is, the more your customers need you and ask for you personally, the harder it is to grow your business, and -- in the long run -- the less valuable your company will be.

In my consulting business, I found myself in the role of fixing clients' problems personally. It felt good at the time, and it certainly paid well, but I soon realized I wasn't building anything of long-term value.

I had to get out of the business of solving individual customers' problems, but I found it hard to train others in what had taken me years to learn.

Intellectually, I knew I needed to document my experiences and coach others, but a little part of me still liked the ego boost of being someone's savior -- even if only for a minute or two.

If you're having trouble growing your business, take a long, hard look in the mirror because your desire to feel needed may be what's holding you back.

Here are four suggestions for letting go:

1. Get out of the "break / fix" business
It's a lot easier to train someone on how to prevent a problem than it is to show them how to fix something once it's broken. For example: A swimming pool company can teach a summer employee to scoop debris out of a pool each week, but you need an expert -- often the company owner -- to replace a pump that overheated due to a clogged drain.

2. Go on vacation
When I go on vacation, I really check out. I used to tell my general manager not to call me under any circumstances. In fact, my parting words were always the same before going on vacation, "If the building is burning down, don't call me, call 911".

Start slowly and take evenings and weekends off completely. Leave the BlackBerry at the office and do not reply to any messages. Then take a day off mid-week and do the same. Build up to where you can take a week off without checking in. To begin with, employees will not think you're serious until they see that you're really not going to reply to them. Once they realize they're on their own, the best ones will start to make more decisions on their own -- it's amazing how smart most people are if you give them a chance to show it. You'll also expose your weakest employees and know who you have to train up or move out.

3. Hire a buffer
One of the reasons business owners feel like they need to stay in touch with the office is that often, they're still the primary point of contact for many customers. We feel like we need to be available if a key customer needs something or has a problem. To pull yourself away from being your customers' first point of contact, focus on hiring sales people. Good sales people will win your customers' trust and will become their first call when there is a problem.

4. Ask people what they would do in your shoes
To get employees to start thinking like an owner, ask them to solve their own problems. When an employee comes to you with a problem, before jumping in to solve it, ask them simply, "If it were your business, what would you do?" This simple question forces them to think things through for the good of the business and triggers a decision making habit which -- when cultivated -- will have them acting like owners in no time.

Read more:

• Want A-List Salespeople? Here's What to Look For
• The One Interview Question You Need to Weed Out Rotten Apples
• The Day That Makes You Bulletproof
• 4 Reasons an MBA Is Bad for Entrepreneurs

John Warrillow is the author of Built To Sell: Creating a Business That Can Thrive Without You.