I am the perfect example of somebody who tries to do it all. The word “no” really isn’t in my vocabulary and I am often having to check my workload and commitments in my own business in order to maintain balance in my life.
If you are reading this and you are an entrepreneur and business owner then you know how overwhelming it is to start and run a business, especially if you are a one person show.There are countless platforms you are ‘supposed’ to be marketing yourself on, website work, content creation and don’t forget that weekly newsletter you should be sending out! Sometimes it feels like every time you cross off an item on your to do list, two more get added. I know, I’ve been there.
Eight months ago I gave birth to my son who has changed my whole world in many ways. One of them being the balance he has forced me to find with my work. It’s not an option anymore for me to slave away all day long at the computer because when I am on mom duty, there is no working.
The point is, once he was born I was forced to prioritize how I spent my time and therefore my [limited] time became 10x more valuable. If it wasn’t making me enough money or making me happy, the answer had to be no. If somebody could do it better than me, I outsourced it.
In my own business this meant raising my rates, ending contracts with clients who were not the right fit and finding experts who had specialities I didn’t to support both me and my clients.
Once I started valuing myself and my time more, the value of my business went way up. Once I got over that mental block of spending money to outsource something that I could theoretically do myself, I started making more money.
I always encourage my clients, friends and family to ask themselves if what they are doing is making them happy. If their answer is no, it’s time for a change. If you are feeling overwhelmed by the amount of work you have to do OR you are spending way too much time on simple tasks and not enough time in your zone of genius, it’s time for a change.
I promise that once you allow yourself to step in to that power zone and start delegating and taking control of your business, you will start to see changes and results.
WHAT CAN YOU DO TODAY?
Take ten minutes (I know, your time is valuable) and write down everything that you did today that could have been outsourced. In other words, it wasn’t something like content creation or video recording but it was more on the technical side. Now, look at that list and choose the top three tasks that are taking you more than an hour a day and start looking for help with those.
Imagine if you started outsourcing tasks for five hours a week? What kind of growth and development would you experience both in your life and business?