Question: "I know I should get a VA (virtual assistant), a housekeeper and help with bookkeeping but I don't know if I am ready yet? I still don't have a full coaching practice and can't justify spending the money on these luxuries. And, honestly... I am worried that the tasks won't be done correctly or on time and that will tarnish the reputation I've been working so hard to build. What is the best way to dip my toe in the delegating pool?"
Professional Organizer's Answer: Hello! Nice to hear from you! Thank you so much for your honest question. I am sure many new entrepreneurs are feeling torn as well between their current financial status verses what they know they need to move their business and life forward in a big way.
First off, I must mention this quote that I am paraphrasing that is over-used but so true:
"You will never reach the level of success or income you desire by doing $10 hour tasks"
Here is an exercise that shifted my own thinking on this subject: Keep track for a week or two of all the time you are spending on these little "nonprofit" tasks that someone else could do as well (usually someone else can do these tasks even better than you). Then, figure out your average hourly rate that you would earn in your business and multiply it by the amount of hours you tracked doing mundane tasks. If you had these hours back to yourself so that you could work on revenue generating activities and bill out your hours or use the hours to create and market a new product how would your income grow and lifestyle grow?
I know that this is hard to do when you are starting out and on a budget, so you don't always have to delegate the task, you may also find that they can be automated or better yet deleted! More often than not delete tasks off your list is the best way to getting more done ironically. But, we all know that there are just some things that can't possibly be deleted, like bookkeeping.
We have an extensive delegating checklist in my Time Management and Productivity Course but here are examples of tasks you can delete, delegate or automate:
- Housekeeping
- Errands (post office, bank, pet vet & groomers, dry cleaning, auto repair, etc.)
- Bookkeeping
- Shopping
- Social Media
- Food Preparation
- Routine emails and letters
- Bill Paying
- Appointment Setting
Most of these tasks take very little time to set up automatically or get someone else to do them. Just the fact that you are asking for help in these areas tells the universe that you are taking your business seriously and you will even start to shift the way you are working with your clients.
There is something else that happens when you start delegating "nonprofit" tasks to an assistant or virtual assistant. For example, let's say you used to input all your business cards from networking meetings into your database no matter who the person was that you met and if you thought there was a useful connection made. Not all contacts are useful - you know that right? Now, when you make the leap to actually pay someone else to do the task it automatically doesn't seem worth their time. So, then why was it ever worth your time at your higher rate per hour? Shifting all the non-revenue generating tasks to someone else really shows you how much time you really weren't spending on the big important pieces of your business.
If you are on a budget, you will want to get the biggest bang for your delegating buck. So, choose the tasks that are essential to do (can't be deleted), take the most time, tasks that you may not like to do, and the tasks that may be the least expensive to outsource. For example, house cleaning will probably be first on this list for most people. It must be done, it takes a long time to do yourself, and it is relatively the cheapest thing to delegate. You can start with this task and while the house cleaners are there vow to yourself to only work on revenue generating activities to obtain an instant ROI (return on investment) from the money spent on the house cleaners.
Now we must take a look at the other part of your question. You were worried that the tasks won't be done correctly or on time if you delegate them and this will damage your hard-earned reputation. Here are some tips to lessen the grip you have on these tasks.
- Take great time and care up-front to hire the right person. And, don't feel guilty if you have to let them go if it doesn't work out. You are doing yourself and them a favor in ending the arrangement if it isn't working.
- Prescribe the deadline for the task. For example, "I need this opt-in report in my email inbox by noon every Friday, Pacific time" rather than "I need this report next week".
- Explain to your assistant or help exactly how you want the task done and why you want it done this way. People have all different frames of references and your assistant or VA may think they know a better, cheaper, or faster way of doing things. You need to explain up-front why you would like it done the way you are telling them. This takes a little more time at the beginning but saves a lot of mistakes later.
- Don't micro-manage. After you've prescribed a deadline and explained how and why you would like the task done there should be no need to micro manage. Gracefully, give your team the confidence and space to get the job done for you.
Lastly, try not to use all your new found free time towards your business. Fill some of the newly regained hours to achieve those fun or personal things you say you never have time for like reading a novel, donating time to charity, escaping to a spa for an afternoon, taking a sushi preparation class, or dancing to that Zumba DVD you received for Christmas three years ago!
Erica Duran is a Certified Professional Organizer CPO® and Productivity Coach. At Erica Duran International (http://www.ericaduran.co), she provides both virtual and in-person coaching around the globe through her programs, courses, and products. Erica mostly attracts women entrepreneurs and business owners. She helps them to clear the clutter in their lives at ALL levels, gets them out of just being "busy" and "overwhelmed" and into a calm, flowing, and balanced lifestyle.
Want to ask Erica a Question and be featured in her electronic magazine, blog, and other articles. Submit your question here: http://ericaduran.co/ask-erica/#
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Erica_Duran
No comments:
Post a Comment