What does "Who Not How" mean for a small business owner?

I'm obsessed with this idea. It comes from a book called Who Not How.

"Who Not How means when you have problems, don't worry about how to do it. Just go find somebody who can do it. Go find partners, go find people. If we run into another problem, go find somebody who solves it. We don't have to solve it."

What does it actually mean?

When you run into a problem, your brain goes straight to "how do I fix this?" Who Not How flips the question. Who can solve it for me, or with me?

A lot of times you'll think, I can't do that. But who said you have to? Go find somebody who can.

I call it a life-changing business principle that most people don't understand. It's how a business can get big without you working crazy hard, because you just find the people.

Why shouldn't I just figure it out myself?

Because your hours have a price. If it's going to take you eight hours to do something that somebody like me can do in 20 minutes, what could you have done with that eight hours?

The people who succeed don't spend their energy on low-value things. They ask who, and they move on to the work only they can do.

What's the biggest "who" for a local newsletter?

Sales, usually. If you don't want to sell, or you don't have time, see if you can find somebody who will. It doesn't mean it's easy. But this is how big businesses get built: you have partners or people who do the things you can't do, don't want to do, or don't have time to do.

A publisher told me she couldn't do chamber events and in-person selling. My answer had two options:

• Hire hungry. Find a 24-year-old who doesn't have a job but is hungry, sees the vision, and knows they can now offer the directory for free.
• Partner with an agency. Go to an existing marketing agency and say, you sell this for me, I'll give you half the money.

Before either one, I asked her how she thought she'd get sales at all. Someone has to put the offer in front of business owners, whether that's DMs, emails, cold outreach or showing up in person.

And there's a third answer that's fine too. You can say, I just want to do this, people will find me over time, I won't make as much money, and I'm okay with that. That's a legitimate choice. Just make it on purpose.

What if I'm too busy to expand?

Same principle. An operator told me he was too busy to grow. The problem isn't how you'll do it. The solution is who. Go find somebody to do it for you.

I also told him to think about expansion as more surface area, not more work. My own ventures look like a lot: two software products, franchising and consulting. They're all for the same clients. When I did insurance, I sold life insurance and auto insurance. Different products, same people.

Does finding the "who" always work?

No. Plenty of people will say yes and never follow through, especially on sales. More on that in why partners fail to follow through on sales. If you're hiring a seller, I'd still sell it yourself first so you know what you're handing off.