When soloists need advice, what problem solving strategies do they use? It is often tempting to seek the advice of fellow soloists. But are they necessarily the best people to ask? Perhaps a ‘board of personalities’ will give us a more holistic view.
You can argue other soloists are in the best position to empathise with us and possibly offer us problem solving strategies that worked for them.
While this can be effective to a large extent, we may not be getting the best advice possible in all situations.
Enter the concept of a Board of Personalities. The best way to think of this Board is like a mini Board of Directors with each member having their own unique talents to contribute to your business.
As a guide, you need people on your Board who are:
- in different shoes (i.e. not soloists);
- believers in you and your business;
- extremely good at the role they will be playing and;
- open-minded.
Here are some of the personality types and roles you could benefit from on your Board to get started:
Action Hero
This person is biased towards getting things done. He/she is always on your case, ensuring that you’re following through on your priorities. This person will have an in-depth understanding of logistics behind getting something done and will help you keep an eye on scope and timelines.
Sales Superstar
The sales superstar basically informs you of ways you can go about evangelising your offerings. He/she knows your target market very well and knows how to best present your offerings to this market.
Want more articles like this? Check out the problem solving section.
Finance Figure
Unlike your accountant who simply “does the books”, the finance figure is intimately involved in the construction of money-making techniques for your offerings and believes in your business. He/she tells you how to best shape things in order to glean prime profits.
Perception Pro
The perception pro understands what people think of you and your offering, and advises how you should go about maintaining or improving your public image. This person should not always be around you in order to keep your senses of reality separate.
Outsider
The outsider should be someone who is completely removed from your business. This person brings external opinions, suggestions and sometimes clarity that might take existing team members a long time to see. Best to alternate this person every 6 or 12 months to keep things fresh.
Obviously there are many options available on how to best make this work. You could either pay all or some of your Board members or alternatively work out some type of mutual value exchange arrangement. Frequency of contribution from the entire Board (or certain members) will also need to be considered.
A Board of Personalities could prove invaluable to the problem solving strategies of your business if you can make it work. The good news is that you can still solicit the great advice from your fellow solopreneur friends while having a panoramic view of professional opinions!
