Marketing Strategy · Small Business
The "Wearing Too Many Hats" Problem
The Reality
Multiple Full Time Jobs, One Person
We’ve seen first hand small business owners trying to be all the things to all the people. You’re the opener, the closer, the scheduler, the payroll department, HR, and more. Small business owners wear so many hats and it can be overwhelming! Running a business and running the marketing for that business are two full time jobs. If you are trying to do it all, you are probably overloaded and can’t be expected to be successful at both. This is an impossible ask. Business ownership and marketing are each demanding enough to be someone’s whole job. Doing both isn’t a discipline problem, it’s a math problem.
Having the tools isn't the same as knowing how to use them
Small business owners have so many marketing tools accessible to them that it feels like it should be easy to do marketing along with all the rest of the things they are doing. It creates an illusion of accessible expertise. Anyone can post to Instagram, so it feels like anyone can do “marketing.” But just having the tools and posting isn’t what makes marketing successful. Especially when you are doing everything else to keep your business running.
Having access to the tools doesn’t make you an expert. For example, owning a camera doesn’t automatically make you a fantastic photographer or cinematographer. Having a scheduling tool doesn’t automatically make you a marketer. Platforms are built to constantly change on purpose. Staying current with those platforms isn’t a one-time thing. It’s something you need to be able to dedicate ongoing attention to, which is really difficult when you are also trying to run your business.
The real cost
What gets spent when you do it all yourself
When a small business owner decides to DIY your own marketing, there are specific things you need to take into consideration.
First, you need to think about the time cost. Specifically, how many hours will be used searching for best practices that might already be outdated by the time you find them? How much time will it take you to learn the platforms? How much time is going to be spent coming up with marketing ideas? Those are just a few of the questions you need to consider in regards to the time cost of DIYing your own marketing.
Next, you need to think about the mental cost of doing your own marketing. Are you going to have a background hum of guilt pulling at the edges of your mind as you are doing other things, always thinking “What else could I be doing”? Are you going to feel like it is taking up more brain space than it is worth? Being a small business owner is mentally exhausting and taking on marketing adds to that mental strain.
Then, you need to think about the opportunity cost that comes. How many ideas do you come up with that never come to fruition because you are worried about everyday business issues? How often do you wish you had your phone on you so you could have taken a photo for some post that you’ll never post? It could very well become a graveyard of half-finished campaigns.
Finally, you need to take into account the quality cost of managing your own marketing. Is what you’re posting the quality of what you could be posting? How can you guarantee that you are posting something that will have an impact? Sometimes, what does get posted is often reactive and inconsistent, not because you aren’t capable, but because there’s no room to plan.
The reframe
This was never about work ethic
Here’s the thing: this isn’t about personal work ethic, intelligence, or talent. This is about the idea that you are already doing the equivalent of a hundred roles. Marketing is its own job, equivalent to bookkeeping or HR. It’s not something that can be done well for an hour on a Sunday afternoon. It’s ok and normal to be frustrated with your lack of time as a small business owner. The important thing is giving yourself the grace and space to recognize that maybe some things need to change. It’s not a personal failing.
Where to start
Five shifts worth trying
Here are some common sense shifts that you can try as a small business owner as you work to juggle everything. They are useful and doable and could be game changers for you.
- Batch and boundary time. Set up a recurring time in your calendar for marketing and guard it like you would a client meeting. Then take that time and create the marketing content you will need until your next set-aside time. This solves the “I market when I have time” problem.
- Pick a platform. Go deep on one platform and become an expert on that platform instead of spreading your efforts thinly and not doing well anywhere.
- Build a simple content bank. Record your marketing ideas as they come (either with a voice memo or on a notes app) instead of trying to think creatively on demand.
- Audit your efforts. Get honest with yourself about what is actually working. Track your numbers and insights to be able to see changes, whether that’s growth or not. A basic monthly check in to see what’s working and converting saves effort.
- Know when to delegate. Recognize when something becomes too much for you to handle. Delegation doesn’t have to be all or nothing. You can pick and choose what you leave on your to-do list and what you hand off to someone else.
If this sounds familiar, you've found your fix point
Tips help, but they don’t really solve the capacity problem of being an owner trying to wear too many hats at once. A checklist won’t create more hours in the day, it will just organize and contain what needs to be done. And most marketing problems aren’t what they look like on the surface. They’re what happens when your marketing foundation isn’t built on the things that help make marketing successful.
If this is where you’ve landed, that’s not failure, it’s clarity. You’ve reached your fix point, and it’s time to reach out so we can help you diagnose the real issue before prescribing anything.