Too Many Hats, Not Enough Heads

My father was self-employed, and over the years, I've watched him (and my mother, who often helped him at his office) wear many different hats: lawyer, accountant, appointment setter, janitor, collections agent, and more. With just one employee and many clients, my dad spent long hours insuring his business would be successful. After all, the buck stopped with him, and no one else.

My parents surely wouldn't be surprised to learn that many surveys of small business owners show that they are filling numerous, if not all, roles at their companies. In fact, Staples recently released the results from its 7th Annual National Small Business Survey, announcing that “69% percent [of respondents] wish they could focus all of their attention on their actual business and leave the daily tasks to someone else.”

(Thanks to Docstoc.com for alerting us to the survey and providing a great title!)

Image by Leonard Matthew. Used with permission. Sourced via Flickr.