Delphinium Concierge

There’s something beautiful about the transition from starting a company to finally stepping out of it. It feels a bit unnatural, because you pour in years of hard work, countless hours learning new softwares, building new processes and running all aspects of the business from accounting to manual labor, to only being called on for emergencies or for routine updates. By the time you hire your first employee, you open a whole new level of dedication. You spend hours and hours training this person on whatever it is you’ve built for the last several years and teaching them everything you know, all while continuing to run the day to day to make sure your company doesn’t fall apart. Sometimes you don’t sleep, or eat, or workout, or take a shower every day, you’re just consumed by getting it right. Most of you know that I took a job at a startup in October. For the first time ever, I had to make the decision to completely step out of my own company. My time responsibilities at Delphinium had to shift from every minute of every day, to two thirty-minute meetings each week. At first, it was terrifying. I thought we were going to collapse, all our clients would move on, and my time as the owner of Delphinium Concierge would come to an end. This morning, I had one of my weekly meetings with my amazing employee, Bethany, who is transitioning out of Delphinium after getting the opportunity to take a big role within her church community. She was sitting with our new hire, Eduardo, who after being with us for about a week, was already trained, problem-solving, and more on top of the company’s to-do list than I was. And during this meeting, I realized that I have shifted completely out of the day-to-day operations of this company. For a minute, I was concerned. I felt disconnected and out-of-touch. But by the end of the meeting, I realized that I have accomplished what every business owner hopes to one day - I’ve created a self-sustaining and successful business that I can work ON, but don’t have to work IN. I realized that my employees had taken my vision and mission, executed on it, and maintained a phenomenal client list, with many people who I’ve never met or spoken to. They’re running softwares that they’re better at operating than me, and sending out invoices on a weekly basis, and the only thing I’m responsible for anymore is making sure everyone has the tools they need to succeed. None of this would have ever been possible without my phenomenal team behind the scenes, who I cannot thank enough. They have made my biggest dreams come true, and have taken my tiny vision and made it something epic, impactful, beautiful, and more than I ever could have wished for.