Show Notes
Cheryl writes: "I'm afraid to hire people because I don't want them to learn my business and then start their own. I know this is holding me back. Help me overcome this."
The reality: 6% of the U.S. population owns a business. 94% don't—and don't want to.
Scott's story: When he hired his first sales rep, she had a history of owning businesses. He was nervous. But he asked himself three questions:
- Does she have the capital?
- Does she have the interest?
- Does she have the burning desire?
Most employees don't. They want stability, not risk.
The car detailing story: A professional detailer—20 years in, van, full setup, referrals—worried about a neighborhood kid undercutting him on Facebook. Two years later: kid is gone. Professional is still thriving.
The lesson: Just because someone can start a business against you doesn't mean they'll succeed.
The reframe: You're holding your business back because of something that probably won't happen. This fear isn't unique to hiring—business owners make decisions all the time solving for things that probably won't happen.
The real risk: Not hiring. Not growing. Staying stuck.
Got a business question? Ask Scott here: scotttodd.net/ask
📜 Full Transcript (Click to expand)
Scott Todd (00:03.63)
Are afraid that your employees are going to, well, steal your business? That's Cheryl's question. Kind of. Cheryl writes, Scott, I'm afraid to hire people because I don't want them to learn my business and then start their own. I know this is holding me back. Help me overcome this. Okay. Well, first of all, welcome to Fix My Business, the show that helps you build a business that you love.
I'm your host, Scott Todd, and I've built multiple seven-figure businesses after leaving corporate America to venture out on my own. And I can tell you something, it's way better here than it is in corporate America. So there you go. We got that. Now, here's the facts, Cheryl. Here's the facts. Six percent of the United States population identifies themselves as owning a business. Six percent.
That means 94% of the population does not own a business. And frankly, they don't want to. There might be people that have this dream of owning a business. I mean, I did for a very long time. I had my corporate job. I wanted to be an entrepreneur. like that's what I've that's what I've wanted since I was, I don't know, a teenager, but it never happened.
But that doesn't mean that I ever went to go work for a company to start my own business to copy what they did. Now, can it happen? Well, look, six percent and still six percent. Okay, like some portion of the population wants to have their own business. And there is this, you know, there is this rational fear that says, my gosh, I'm gonna teach them what I do and then they're gonna go become my competition. And in fact, I can really relate to what you're saying because.
Back when I hired my first sales rep, I had had my business for a year. I'd been doing, you know, sales for a year. And this one person that I thought was really, really qualified, she kind of freaked me out. And the reason she freaked me out is because when I asked her about her history, she had a history of owning businesses. Okay. So I was a little nervous to like, I don't know, give her all my leads and
Scott Todd (02:17.949)
I had that same fear, but I still did it anyway. Okay. Because see, here's in my mind, here's what helped me get over it is that I didn't necessarily need to worry about her taking my leads and then selling them for her own stuff. What I really worried about, or the way I settled my mind, I guess, is I basically said, hey, does she have the capital to go do this? Does she have the interest to do this? Does she have the burning desire to go do it?
Because let's be honest, any business venture that you're going to go down and do is truly going to take a deep burning desire. That's that's that's the one piece that I think it is missing from a lot of businesses is this burning desire. Because if you don't have a burning desire to go make some change in your life, you're not gonna do it, frankly. And so for people that they want to start a business.
But yet they're comfortable with someone else's capital, or they're comfortable with someone else's businesses and just getting a check, paycheck. They're not, they don't have the burning desire to go do it. So we're trying to solve this problem, Cheryl. You're trying to solve this problem of your hedging against growing your business because of this fear that while it's possible, it's not necessarily going to happen.
Again, it could happen, but that also doesn't mean that they're going to be successful. Let me tell you this one. there's there's a a business owner that I know. he he's in the car detailing business. Okay. And I was talking to him one day, and he was basically telling me about how the barrier to entry for car detailing is super low. And one of the neighborhood kids basically started a car detailing business.
And he's like, that guy's lowering his prices, he's making it tough on me. Well, all of that stuff might be true. The the barrier entry might be true. Frankly, it can be because, well, you can drive your car to someone's house, use their water, but see, he has a whole setup. He brings his own water. He has a van. He's got all of the supplies. He's got the carpet cleaning stuff. He's decked out. He's professional. Like I like he's not.
Scott Todd (04:42.639)
Some dude operated from the back of his truck. Which by the way, if you're listening to this and you're operating your car detailing service from the back of your truck, I'm not bashing you. I'm just telling you that there's a difference, right? Like there's a competitive difference between one and the other. They're not the same. Now, what happened was people in the community Facebook page would ask, who, who, who do you use for detailing? And this dude,
This this young dude was in the Facebook page and he's like basically tearing it up. He's like, I'll do it, I'll do it. He's hustling. Okay. No problem. No problem. But then later on, fast forward, I don't know, a couple of years, and I hear that he's no longer doing it. Now, it was a short-lived thing. Whereas the professional that's been doing this for 20 years, he was worried about it. He was worried about the competition and he's worrying about the the lower barrier to entry. But his business is sustaining itself because.
He's a professional. He's got his detailing quality down. He's referable. He's all of these things. And just because someone can start a business against you doesn't mean that they're going to succeed either. So, Cheryl, when you look at this whole picture of number one, do they have the burning desire? Do they have the capital? Are they going to ultimately succeed? Do they have the education that you've acquired to invest in?
Putting, you know, starting this business because you also have to have education to start a business or to run it. I don't care how much education you have. Are they, you just can't walk in and start a business. You got to learn some things. You got to learn some things about how business operates. Are they going to go do that? Probably not. So now we we have to reframe this problem that you've brought here, which is I'm afraid to hire someone because they're going to steal my business. What's the likelihood that they're going to do that?
Probably very little, probably very small. And so so you're holding your business back because of something that probably won't happen. And I want you to think about that because this doesn't just apply to hiring people. There's so many decisions that business owners make that we're solving for something that probably won't happen. Okay? So ask yourself.
Scott Todd (07:08.002)
Hey, put that on the table. It's it's a potential. It probably won't happen. Now, what's the next step? Keep asking yourself, what's that next step? Because when you do that, you're going to change your mindset. And when you change your mindset, you're going to change your business. And your business is going to grow and flourish because of it. So it is holding you back. You've got to solve that. And the only way I can tell you to solve it is to understand that the risk is.
there's always risk in everything. There's always risk in everything. It's a small risk. Okay. So you got bigger risks than this in your business that you probably don't even know about. I just probably gave you an unlock the new fear for you. No worries. All right, appreciate the question. If you have a business question, head over to scott.net forward slash ask. And I will see you in our next episode.
Are afraid that your employees are going to, well, steal your business? That's Cheryl's question. Kind of. Cheryl writes, Scott, I'm afraid to hire people because I don't want them to learn my business and then start their own. I know this is holding me back. Help me overcome this. Okay. Well, first of all, welcome to Fix My Business, the show that helps you build a business that you love.
I'm your host, Scott Todd, and I've built multiple seven-figure businesses after leaving corporate America to venture out on my own. And I can tell you something, it's way better here than it is in corporate America. So there you go. We got that. Now, here's the facts, Cheryl. Here's the facts. Six percent of the United States population identifies themselves as owning a business. Six percent.
That means 94% of the population does not own a business. And frankly, they don't want to. There might be people that have this dream of owning a business. I mean, I did for a very long time. I had my corporate job. I wanted to be an entrepreneur. like that's what I've that's what I've wanted since I was, I don't know, a teenager, but it never happened.
But that doesn't mean that I ever went to go work for a company to start my own business to copy what they did. Now, can it happen? Well, look, six percent and still six percent. Okay, like some portion of the population wants to have their own business. And there is this, you know, there is this rational fear that says, my gosh, I'm gonna teach them what I do and then they're gonna go become my competition. And in fact, I can really relate to what you're saying because.
Back when I hired my first sales rep, I had had my business for a year. I'd been doing, you know, sales for a year. And this one person that I thought was really, really qualified, she kind of freaked me out. And the reason she freaked me out is because when I asked her about her history, she had a history of owning businesses. Okay. So I was a little nervous to like, I don't know, give her all my leads and
Scott Todd (02:17.949)
I had that same fear, but I still did it anyway. Okay. Because see, here's in my mind, here's what helped me get over it is that I didn't necessarily need to worry about her taking my leads and then selling them for her own stuff. What I really worried about, or the way I settled my mind, I guess, is I basically said, hey, does she have the capital to go do this? Does she have the interest to do this? Does she have the burning desire to go do it?
Because let's be honest, any business venture that you're going to go down and do is truly going to take a deep burning desire. That's that's that's the one piece that I think it is missing from a lot of businesses is this burning desire. Because if you don't have a burning desire to go make some change in your life, you're not gonna do it, frankly. And so for people that they want to start a business.
But yet they're comfortable with someone else's capital, or they're comfortable with someone else's businesses and just getting a check, paycheck. They're not, they don't have the burning desire to go do it. So we're trying to solve this problem, Cheryl. You're trying to solve this problem of your hedging against growing your business because of this fear that while it's possible, it's not necessarily going to happen.
Again, it could happen, but that also doesn't mean that they're going to be successful. Let me tell you this one. there's there's a a business owner that I know. he he's in the car detailing business. Okay. And I was talking to him one day, and he was basically telling me about how the barrier to entry for car detailing is super low. And one of the neighborhood kids basically started a car detailing business.
And he's like, that guy's lowering his prices, he's making it tough on me. Well, all of that stuff might be true. The the barrier entry might be true. Frankly, it can be because, well, you can drive your car to someone's house, use their water, but see, he has a whole setup. He brings his own water. He has a van. He's got all of the supplies. He's got the carpet cleaning stuff. He's decked out. He's professional. Like I like he's not.
Scott Todd (04:42.639)
Some dude operated from the back of his truck. Which by the way, if you're listening to this and you're operating your car detailing service from the back of your truck, I'm not bashing you. I'm just telling you that there's a difference, right? Like there's a competitive difference between one and the other. They're not the same. Now, what happened was people in the community Facebook page would ask, who, who, who do you use for detailing? And this dude,
This this young dude was in the Facebook page and he's like basically tearing it up. He's like, I'll do it, I'll do it. He's hustling. Okay. No problem. No problem. But then later on, fast forward, I don't know, a couple of years, and I hear that he's no longer doing it. Now, it was a short-lived thing. Whereas the professional that's been doing this for 20 years, he was worried about it. He was worried about the competition and he's worrying about the the lower barrier to entry. But his business is sustaining itself because.
He's a professional. He's got his detailing quality down. He's referable. He's all of these things. And just because someone can start a business against you doesn't mean that they're going to succeed either. So, Cheryl, when you look at this whole picture of number one, do they have the burning desire? Do they have the capital? Are they going to ultimately succeed? Do they have the education that you've acquired to invest in?
Putting, you know, starting this business because you also have to have education to start a business or to run it. I don't care how much education you have. Are they, you just can't walk in and start a business. You got to learn some things. You got to learn some things about how business operates. Are they going to go do that? Probably not. So now we we have to reframe this problem that you've brought here, which is I'm afraid to hire someone because they're going to steal my business. What's the likelihood that they're going to do that?
Probably very little, probably very small. And so so you're holding your business back because of something that probably won't happen. And I want you to think about that because this doesn't just apply to hiring people. There's so many decisions that business owners make that we're solving for something that probably won't happen. Okay? So ask yourself.
Scott Todd (07:08.002)
Hey, put that on the table. It's it's a potential. It probably won't happen. Now, what's the next step? Keep asking yourself, what's that next step? Because when you do that, you're going to change your mindset. And when you change your mindset, you're going to change your business. And your business is going to grow and flourish because of it. So it is holding you back. You've got to solve that. And the only way I can tell you to solve it is to understand that the risk is.
there's always risk in everything. There's always risk in everything. It's a small risk. Okay. So you got bigger risks than this in your business that you probably don't even know about. I just probably gave you an unlock the new fear for you. No worries. All right, appreciate the question. If you have a business question, head over to scott.net forward slash ask. And I will see you in our next episode.