Running an E-commerce store for the last 5 years means that Thanksgiving week has been anything but relaxing. From getting inventory online to making deals live, publishing marketing materials, and sending emails, there was always something to do. That was until this year
Over the years our team at Foundation Disc Golf has slowly grown from basically a two-man operation to a twelve-man team. The big unlock this year that made it my least stressful Black Friday weekend yet? Giving up control.
Now I am far from perfect at delegating but as the company has grown it has become impossible to have my hands in every little aspect which means the two options I had were to hold the business back or let it grow. Choosing to let it go and let it grow meant that I was still involved in the general direction of our sales, marketing, and execution but I wasn’t in the details.
Trevor took on all the marketing planning, delegating to the marketing team, and execution. Brad handled all the inventory ordering, mystery box processes, subscription box execution, and backend deal scheduling. The warehouse team (with the help of Trevor and I for a day because 3 orders decided to show up late and at the same time) got thousands of discs on the site just in time for the weekend. Jason did a phenomenal job promoting it all on Patreon and handling all the customer service questions that have started flooding in per usual with such a busy weekend. Last but not least the retail crew held down the retail store and the many waves of traffic that came through over the weekend.
Nobody was overly stressed. Nobody had too much on their plate. Yet so much was able to get done because we divided and conquered. Previously every aspect of the paragraph above would have had some type of me involved in the sentence. I just couldn’t let it go.
Whether it be pride, fear, or a mixture of both and a bunch of other stuff, I always felt like I knew the business the best and if I let go everything would fall apart. I am lucky that the team we have built is better than I at almost everything they do but let’s say that isn’t the same for you. Even if you have 3 people operating at 80% efficiency to what you could do, that is still 240% of what you are able to do by yourself (the math might suck there but you get the point).
I felt like letting go would cause everything to fall apart instead letting go let the business grow and the plan come together to pull off our biggest Black Friday weekend yet.
This was a big weekend of growth for me and for the business. The lessons learned here will direct us for years to come and hopefully can help guide you through some decisions in your own life and business.
“9 Two are better than one because they have a good reward for their efforts. 10 For if either falls, his companion can lift him up; but pity the one who falls without another to lift him up. 11 Also, if two lie down together, they can keep warm; but how can one person alone keep warm? 12 And if someone overpowers one person, two can resist him. A cord of three strands is not easily broken.” - Ecclesiastes 4:9-12