Like many founders, I spent years convinced that being a good owner meant being the person who checked everything.
Every decision.
Every detail.
Every final “go”.
I knew this wasn’t sustainable.
I just didn’t do anything about it.
Then, in October 2016, our landlord told us we had to leave our retail space by early January.
A larger company had made an offer he couldn’t refuse, and we had no leverage to stay.
Right before peak season.
Inventory already bought.
Cash tied up.
Team expecting stable salaries.
There was no time to argue. Only time to move.
First, we had to find a new space: right location, right size, right rent.
Then we had to organize the move itself.
But the harder part came after.
The new location needed serious renovation. So for a few months, we operated out of a temporary warehouse.
Sales dropped. The store wasn’t there to bring in revenue.
But the work didn’t stop.
Pre-orders still had to be placed.
Past sales had to be analyzed.
The website, social media, and marketing still had to move.
Operational details still had to be handled.
And my own time was being eaten by renovation, equipment, and new contracts.
I wasn’t keeping up.
I needed help.
That forced me to face a question I had avoided for years:
How do you pay a team fairly when sales are down, but the work itself hasn’t disappeared - it has changed?
For years, my team had been mostly salespeople - pay tied to store revenue.
But during the crisis, I started looking at them differently.
Not by job title.
By specific strengths.
One person knew the products deeply.
One understood the software, reports, and stock data.
One handled website content.
One could organize the operational details I usually kept in my head.
So the roles started changing.
They were no longer just waiting for customers in an empty store.
They were influencing parts of the business I had been carrying alone.
And that changed how I thought about pay.
Their salaries became more complex.
They also became more honest.
Each person could now see a specific part of the business result they personally influenced - and their pay started reflecting that influence.
They didn’t become partners. They were still employees.
But the relationship shifted.
They weren’t selling time in a store anymore.
They were contributing to outcomes I could measure.
When we reopened in the new space, it wasn’t just a new location.
It was a different way of running the business.
Management got more complex. So did the payroll spreadsheet.
But the team grew - in skills, responsibility, and pay.
And I finally stopped being the bottleneck for every decision.
The crisis didn’t teach me to delegate.
It taught me that real delegation isn’t about handing over tasks.
It’s about redefining roles, responsibilities, and pay logic so people can contribute in ways the business can recognize.
Do your pay rules reflect people’s duties - or the results they can actually influence?