Most entrepreneurs have too much self-worth or too little self-worth and a total lack of vision. A lack of self-awareness or the previously mentioned vision is a killer.

The interesting part of it is that both issues come from the exact same cause. Entrepreneurs do not know their own skill set, or value their skills way too much. They also do not really know themselves at the core.

Start With Self-Awareness

Gary Vaynerchuk, founder of Vaynermedia, cites self-awareness as the starting place to success.

“It starts with really breaking yourself down,” stated Vaynerchuk. Most entrepreneurs will not take this very important step; they will not break themselves down to the core and see who they really are.

Entrepreneurs are not comfortable with that level of vulnerability; to be self aware, you have to be comfortable with being vulnerable. This self-exploration is the only action that will define what a real skill set or a lack thereof.

To trust your skill set you have to know your real skill set, but where does that actually come from?

Know your skill level.

When many look at a high level of skill, they think that it is just something un-confrontable. If you’re looking at a professional athlete, there is some natural ability involved, but there is also a repetition of the basics.

A high level of skill is not complexity but rather it is basics built on basics. The best athletes and entrepreneurs practice over and over again so that they become so great at the basics. Mastering and assimilating the basics is what leads to real skills in business, it’s only in a command of basics that a musician is able to play that masterful guitar solo.

Once you really know what you are good at, and what you really are not, then you can shift from just being self-aware to being more reliant on yourself.

Set goals for yourself.

For myself, that’s been something that I have learned to do a lot more in my own business. I’ve realized that being the goal setter in my business is more important to growth than saving few dollars by doing it myself.

Also, that expert I bring in can most likely create a higher-level of quality product in a significantly shorter time than I ever could.

If you are in all parts of your organizational chart, then you have no ability to grow. As a business owner, you need to have understanding of all the functions of your business, so that you can give the best direction.

I like to find experts in my business because I have the awareness to understand that I am good at having the vision and direction, but if I put myself in the minutia, then I will get sucked in.

Do what you’re meant to do, not what you’re good at.

Am I great at website design and content creation? Yes, I am. However if all my time is spent there, then I am not putting the future vision into my business. I am self-aware enough to understand that being stuck in the details will derail the future of my business.

Oft times I make proselytize for the very distinct difference between a business owner and an entrepreneur. A business owner being someone that must handle every part of a project, whereas the entrepreneur does not want to do that but enable others to be successful.

An entrepreneur runs teams whereas the business owner is the team; he’s not self-aware. That’s what the transition from solopreneur to entrepreneur looks like, and it’s a transformation that most will never be able to make.

Why? They can never become self-reliant because they are lacking the basic of being self-aware.

Self-awareness becomes self-reliance when you recognize what you are not good at, empower others to do it and become so good at the basics of what you are good at that it becomes a base of power for you.