Like most people I feel like there isn’t enough time to do everything I’d like to do. The hours slip by and most things seem to take longer than I think they will. But it used to be much worse, because for a long time I used to try to do everything myself. It took me a long time to realise that doing things yourself will only get you so far.

My name is Chris Nutbeen, I am the CEO of Nuttifox. I am also a bit of a perfectionist, which is one of the reasons for the slow development of my business, the other reason was finance, as I’m sure it is with a lot of new start-ups. So here I was 6 months down the line, still setting up fundamental parts of the business, I didn’t even have a business account yet and it felt like I wouldn’t be trading for another year! One evening I sat myself down and had time to think, to re-eveluate exactly what I needed, this was the first time I had setup a new company, I needed support! I always wanted to automate a lot of the processes within my business to keep the overheads down, and this meant more work to begin with. It’s hard to make money without spending it!

First of all I made a list of all the jobs I hated doing, I wanted to keep my motivation up, and by passing on the smaller essential but numbingly boring jobs, this would keep me focused on the bigger picture. Once I had my list I started researching services and software solutions which could complete these tasks within my budget (which wasn’t much!). Sure enough by paying other professionals that were experienced in these areas, the tasks were quickly completed to a high standard and a business relationship had been formed.

I was now free to push my business forward and I soon built up a collection of managed services and in-house software to tackle all aspects off my business, from finance, invoicing and marketing to CMS systems and lead generation tools! I could now completely focus on producing quality work for my clients and developing new client relationships without being bogged down with the daily running of the business, and yet I was still the only employee of the company. This is what you call streamlined.

Fast forward a year and Nuttifox had grown not in size, but in experience of working with these systems to create a (nearly) perfectly functioning company, which in-turn reflects on your confidence when approaching new clients. I felt in-control of selling, creating and charging for the professional work that we had produced.

What I’ve discovered is that every time I’ve replaced myself there is a short term loss followed by a huge long term gain. The loss is the initial cost of finding someone, training them, supporting them, answering questions and the time it takes for them to grow into the job. But the long term gain is that once it’s done, you (hopefully) will never have to do that job again. It is the only way to push your business forward, even if it’s just one freelance or in-house person helping you out.

It can be difficult to let go, especially if you are a perfectionist or are giving up doing something you really enjoy. I still design most of the sites at Nuttifox and I can see this is going to be a problem soon. What other company has the CEO also pushing pixels? But I now have a solid team of designers working on a business model I have created, streamlined and perfected over many years. This makes Nuttifox what it is, and how I can proudly say who we are and what we can do for your business.