The Hard Truth About Building a Team: Stop Being the Bottleneck

The hard truth about building a team is that the challenge isn't finding people or hiring people. It's learning to give up control so you can build something that can stand without you holding it up. If every job, every question and every decision still comes back to you, eventually there simply isn't enough of you to go around.

That's what Nick Tonzing and I get into in Episode 2 of Overexposed, and it's what this post is about.

Why does a growing business start breaking the person running it?

Because the business has become completely dependent on one person. There's a version of entrepreneurship that looks pretty good from the outside:

• The business is growing.
• The jobs are coming in.
• The team is getting bigger.
• The phone doesn't stop ringing.

It can feel like everything is going right, but sometimes, behind all of that, the person running the business is barely keeping up.

Nick talks about a period when he was pushing himself harder and harder to keep up with the demands of his growing business. His description of that time is hard to forget:

"I was surviving on 3 to 4 hours of sleep a night... just pure adrenaline. Then the shingles hit me."

That wasn't a story about a bad week. It was the result of a business model that had become completely dependent on him.

Why is being indispensable a trap for creative business owners?

Because being indispensable means you can't switch off. You're good at what you do, so people want you to do more of it.

You become the person clients trust. The person who knows how everything works. The person who can fix the problem when something goes wrong. Because you're capable, you keep saying yes.

Before long, being indispensable starts to feel like a measure of success.

But every job matters because you're responsible for it. Every employee question comes to you. Every difficult client comes to you. Every decision comes back to you. I've written before about the ceiling no one talks about, when busy becomes the problem, and this is exactly that ceiling.

What finally forces an owner to change?

For Nick, it was the physical consequences. Getting sick was the wake-up call that made it clear something had to change.

Not because he suddenly stopped caring about the business. Quite the opposite. He cared enough to realise that continuing exactly as he was wasn't sustainable.

That distinction is important. Sometimes the thing holding a business back isn't a lack of ambition, it's an unwillingness to change the way that ambition is being delivered.

What happens when you start letting go?

You give up control, and that's much harder than it sounds. Building a team sounds straightforward until you actually have to do it.

You have to hand over things you've always controlled. You have to trust people who don't have your experience, and accept that they'll occasionally get things wrong.

You have to resist the urge to take everything back the moment it gets difficult.

That's a huge psychological shift for a business owner, because you're not just delegating tasks, you're giving up control. For many creatives, that's much harder than it sounds.

Why can't your team take ownership while you're involved in everything?

Because when the owner is involved in everything, the business is structured around the owner. This side of it often gets overlooked.

People wait for answers, they wait for approval. They bring problems back to the person at the top. Not necessarily because they're incapable, but because that's how the business has been structured.

Building a team means creating enough space for other people to make decisions, solve problems and develop their own confidence.

That takes time and it requires the owner to step back. It also requires a lot of planning, structure, systems and processes. If that's where you're stuck, start with the essential systems for scaling a real estate photography business.

How should you measure success in a creative business?

Not only by revenue, number of employees, number of jobs or how quickly you're growing. Those are easy to measure. The other measures matter just as much:

• Can you take a day off?
• Can you go on holiday without your phone becoming an extension of your hand?
• Can your team solve a problem without calling you?
• Can the business continue when you're not there?

And perhaps most importantly: do you actually enjoy the life that the business is creating for you?

There's no point building a successful business that leaves you with no energy to enjoy it. It's one of the common mistakes that stop a real estate photography business being profitable in the full sense of the word.

How do you build a business that can exist without you?

You become intentional about where your time and energy actually matter. The irony is that the more successful a creative business becomes, the less it should need its founder to be involved in every detail. That's not about becoming disconnected.

The business needs your vision, your leadership, your experience. But it shouldn't need you to personally hold every piece of it together.

That's the real challenge of building a team. Not finding people. Not hiring people.

Learning to build something that can stand without you holding it up.

Where to go from here

Listen to Episode 2 of Overexposed, The Hard Truth About Building a Team, wherever you get your podcasts. It's an honest conversation about growth, pressure, leadership, letting go and the point where working harder isn't the answer anymore.

Then ask yourself the questions above honestly. If the answer to most of them is no, and you run an established operation, have a look at how BWRM works with established businesses.

Frequently asked questions

What is the hardest part of building a team in a creative business?

The hardest part isn't finding or hiring people. It's giving up control: handing over work you've always done, trusting people with less experience and accepting they'll occasionally get things wrong.

Why is being indispensable bad for a small business owner?

If you're indispensable, every job, question, difficult client and decision comes back to you, so you can never switch off. Eventually there isn't enough of you to go around, and the business can't grow past your own capacity.

Why doesn't my team take ownership of problems?

Often it's not because they're incapable but because the business is structured so that answers and approvals come from the owner. Stepping back, and putting systems and processes in place, gives people the space to make decisions and build confidence.

How do I know if my business depends too much on me?

Ask whether you can take a day off, go on holiday without constantly checking your phone, and whether your team can solve problems without calling you. If the business can't continue when you're not there, it depends on you too much.

What is the Overexposed podcast episode on building a team about?

Episode 2 of Overexposed is a conversation between Guy Le Page and Nick Tonzing about growth, pressure, leadership and letting go. Nick shares how running on adrenaline and little sleep led to a health scare that forced him to rethink how his business ran.