Herculean Efforts & the Labors of Small Business
Heracles, though you might know him by his Roman name Hercules, was a Greek demi-god with an unparalleled resume. Son of Zeus, Heracles was skilled in battle, and his “Twelve Labours” include a series of impressive fights with an array of monsters.
We have found running small businesses to be much like his second Labor, his battle with the Lernaean Hydra. The Hydra had nine heads, and for every head that was cut off by its enemy, two would grow back in its place. Also, one of its many heads had the gift of immortality. In his battle with the monster, Heracles smashed one head after another, only to be brought face-to-face with the reality of the monster’s regenerative abilities. It was his nephew Iolaus who decided to use fire to cauterize the severed necks, preventing the two heads from growing. After conquering the first eight heads Heracles severed the ninth, immortal head, and buried it under a massive rock to prevent it from doing further damage.
As we navigate through the daily knife fight of owning small businesses, we are encouraged by Heracles’ success. Often a small business, especially one recently purchased, feels like a Hydra: chaos lurking in every corner. Operational problems, software bugs, rising accounts receivable, confused employees, and other problems all work together to create the nine-headed monster seeking to devour you and your business.
Many business owners we speak with take the Herculean approach. They smash the heads one by one, fighting hard, day in and day out. But they lose sight of the bigger picture, that for every problem solved, two more will spring up in its place. Too often, we have found tired business owners, exhausted from the many years of slaying the heads of Hydra, still surrounded by chaos.
What they are lacking is their Iolaus, and for us, Iolaus is process.
It is easy to get bogged down in the daily struggle but failing to prioritize process building only harms in the long run. Even if the people in your business are modern-day Heracles (and we have seen many a Heracles in the small business world), they still cannot defeat the Hydra alone. A process is what solves the issue at the source and prevents the future heads from growing. A business advisor recently told us that a process is only a process if three conditions are satisfied:
It is documented in checklist form
Every employee that uses the process has provided constructive feedback on it
Every employee that uses the process has signed off on it
Following a similar framework, we have been focusing on building and optimizing processes in our businesses for three years.
Processes allow us to focus on our “Rocks,” (those quarterly goals that genuinely move the company forward) and keep us from losing time to “Sand,” (those daily distractions and issues that seek to keep us in place). Putting these processes in a written handbook helps to ensure that all employees are using the same process and provides future employees with a base upon which to build using their knowledge and expertise.
It is worth noting that Heracles found no process for the immortal head. You cannot solve some problems by process or otherwise. Some can only be crushed under a tremendous weight while you accomplish your goals.
If you’d like to talk more about how processes have helped your business, or if you know a small business whose owner has foregone the strictly Heraclean approach and instead employs Iolaus-like processes, please reach out. We would love to talk.