Being good at your trade is not the same as being good at business
Most businesses don’t start with a business plan. They start with a skill.
People go into business because they’re good at what they do, not because they’re trained to run a business. A tiler, landscaper, electrician, designer, or consultant doesn’t wake up one day wanting to manage accounting software, compliance, people, systems, and cash flow. They start because there’s demand for their work, and at some point, that demand turns into responsibility.
This is how many people become accidental business owners. They didn’t choose business ownership as a career path, it was because they're good at their trade.
Take a landscape for example. They buy the tools, get a few jobs, referrals follow, and suddenly they’re flat out. On the surface, everything looks successful. There’s work coming in, clients are happy, and income is flowing. But underneath that success, the business depends entirely on one person.
If that person goes on holiday, the income stops. No one answers the phone. No one quotes the work. No one invoices. So over the Christmas break, that means there's no work and no money coming in. The business doesn’t continue because there is no separation between the person and the work. From what I've seen with my clients, it’s a very common starting point.
Being good at your trade is often the only reason the business exists in the first place.
Trade skills give you:
quality outcomes
a strong reputation
trust with clients
consistent demand
These skills bring people through the door. They generate referrals and repeat work. In many cases, they create more demand than one person can reasonably handle.
Running a business requires a completely different set of skills, ones that aren’t taught during apprenticeships, training courses, or years on the tools. Like we pointed out in our podcast, being good at your trade does not mean you’re automatically good at:
managing people
understanding finances
handling compliance
building systems and processes
These skills are learned separately and often much later, and often under stress.
When they’re missing, the owner becomes the glue holding everything together. They answer the phone, do the work, manage staff, solve problems, and make every decision. The business works but only because they do.
The stress doesn’t come from the work itself. It comes from carrying everything. Decisions are made under pressure. There’s no space to step back and look at the bigger picture because the business needs constant attention.
This is where owners become trapped inside their business rather than supported by it. This is how people end up “stuck in the business.” Not because they’re bad at what they do but because the business was never designed to function without them. One of the most damaging assumptions in small business is that excellence in your trade will automatically translate into a sustainable business. It doesn’t.
Excellence creates demand but it doesn’t create structure. Capability allows you to do the work but it doesn’t give you unlimited capacity. Without systems, people, and processes, the very skill that built the business becomes the thing that exhausts it. Owners continue to say yes, take on more, and work harder, believing effort will eventually create relief.
In reality, effort without structure often deepens the problem.
If this resonates and you’re feeling stuck, you’re welcome to book a free 30-minute conversation with our team. We’ll talk through what’s currently causing friction in your business and help you get clearer on a way forward.
