You’ve been building your business, growing your work in the world, and trying to create some systems to make it easier. But, the reality has finally sunk in… “Doing it all by myself is going to break me!” It’s time to find some help…
I’ve been there. I’m looking back on my career as an entrepreneur (over 16 years, as of writing today), and it’s been over a decade since I hired my first team members.
For me, I started with an assistant, then a few contractor organizers (since my first business was in home organizing). I had been growing my business for almost 4 years, and it was time to take some tasks off of my own plate.
Since then, I’ve worked as a productivity strategist with many other entrepreneurs who hit the same wall – SMACK! And, as they look up at their lives (from the floor where they’ve collapsed) they knew something had to change. But, the idea of HIRING?!?! people often feels utterly overwhelming.
How do I find the right people? What would they do for me? How can I be a manager? What happens if things go wrong? All the concerns and fears start coming up. Eventually the pains grow faster than the fears, and it’s time to bring in some help.
That’s when you’re ready to take the first step BEFORE hiring. Figuring out what the heck you could possibly delegate!
My goal with this post is to inspire your answers to that question. What could you take off your plate?
Remember: All Help is Good Help
A few weeks ago I wrote about my three insights into bringing more collaborative help into your life. One of the keys I covered there was that delegating anything that frees you up to work more deeply on growing your business is GOOD. Which means that sometimes your first hire isn’t someone internal to your company.
Your first hire might be someone to help at home and free up more of your time for work. That’s why I’m going to defy the logic of most business coaches and strategists out there and start by reminding you of all the tasks at home that you could delegate to someone else.
Most of us have no problem “calling the guy” for stuff like this:
- Household repairs – plumbing, painting, fixing the gutters, appliance repairs
- Car repairs – brakes, oil change, spark plugs, that “funny sound” that shouldn’t be there
These things are often the “bigger than a bread box” kind of projects when it’s just better to have an “expert” take care of the issue. However, there are so many other home tasks that we hold onto thinking we have to do them ourselves. It’s time to question that logic and consider letting some of them go. Such as…
- Cleaning – Vacuuming, dusting, bathrooms, kitchen, windows
- Yard Care – Mowing lawns, weeding, landscaping, watering gardens
- Home Maintenance – Laundry, dishes, meal planning, grocery shopping, cooking
- Finances – Bill paying, bookkeeping, tax prep
- Child Care – Nannies, daycare, babysitting
- Pet Care – Dog walker, doggie day care
- Lifestyle – Travel planning, party planning, gift shopping, errand running
If I’m being honest, my first hire wasn’t an assistant for my business… it was a cleaning service. Something that’s continued for well over a decade, and for which I am constantly grateful!
There was a brief moment when my boyfriend (now husband) and I moved in together, and I told him how much I spent on the cleaning service. He said, “Why don’t you pay me that money, and I’ll clean the house.” HELL NO was my reply.
I knew that would assuredly end our relationship since I’m the one who works from home, and getting him to meet my standards of “clean” was only going to cause fights. It didn’t take long for him to see the wisdom and share the gratitude for having someone else clean our home.
If you haven’t started delegating this set of tasks, then that might be a GREAT place to start and free your time and energy for business (not to mention giving you a nice, cleaner space to get things done.)
You might even try looking into services like Task Rabbit or (if you’re in downtown Boston or New York) take a look at Alfred. They might be a great way to get a few common tasks off your plate really easily.
One of my clients was very relieved to finally find some reliable child care for their 8-month-old son so that his wife could restart her part-time work of editing and posting his blogs again. She was equally relieved since she was really ready to start working again and get out of pure mommy/baby-brain all the time :). What’s the lynchpin task that will help get things done (and off your plate?)
What Could You Delegate in Business
If you’ve never had someone help in your business before, then a great place to start is hiring a general VA or assistant (VA = Virtual Assistant). I started out hiring a local person who would come to my house and take various tasks over for me, but virtual collaboration has gotten SO much better in the last 10 years that now my team members have been almost everywhere. We use a combination of Slack, Evernote, and Asana to communicate and get things done.
However, there are also sets of specialized skills that might be beyond you and better handled by someone else with those particular super-skills.
To help inspire the possibilities for you, here’s a list of just a few:
General Assistant
- Blogging – Editing, sourcing images, layout in WP/blogging platform, keyword research, social media post prep, moderating comments
- Social Media – Scheduling, post creation, monitoring shares & stats
- Scheduling – Meeting/appointment scheduling (via phone, Skype, or live)
- Filing – Digital files & physical files
- Research – Projects, sales research, competitors, writing research
- Finances – Bookkeeping, bill paying, invoicing
- Transcriptions – Audio & video assets, speaking engagements, audio notes
- Email – Customer service, support requests, sales inquires, speaking requests
- Travel plans – Flights, hotels, ground transport, restaurants, things to do
- Contact/Database management – Data entry, database cleanup, tagging/segmentation structures
- Email Marketing – Prepping email newsletter layouts, implementing funnels in marketing platform
- Basic Image Editing (Canva/Pixlr) – Researching stock photos, basic layouts
- Event Preparations & Logistics – Printing handouts, coordinating w/ venues, ordering supplies, packing/unpacking
- Prepping podcasts – collecting resource links, posting podcasts, editing descriptions
- Report creation – develop spreadsheets of key business metrics
Audio/Video Editing
- Video editing – add video intro/outros, cutting flubs, trimming beginning/end
- Audio/Podcast editing – add video intro/outros, cutting flubs, trimming beginning/end
- Removing Background noise
- Adding graphic elements to videos
Content Development
- Email Funnel Copywriting
- Website Copywriting
- Press Release Writing
- Article Syndication
- Email Newsletter Writing
Graphic design
- Designing logos, banners, icons
- Lead Magnet graphics & layout
- Website & Landing Page designs
- Infographic designs
- Designing blog post image branding
Website & Tech Support
- Tech integrations via APIs, Zapier, etc.
- Website modifications: PHP, CSS, HTML
- SEO optimization
- Installing WordPress plugins & themes
- Site maintenance & troubleshooting
When you look at this list you might feel a bit stunned and overwhelmed. Even thinking to yourself… “I haven’t even been doing all those things, am I supposed to be?” NO! Every business is different, you will focus in different places during each phase of your growth.
Some of these might be irrelevant to you now, but come up again sometime in the future. Start wherever you will get the most gain in your time and energy. For many that will be a general assistant (virtual or otherwise), but for others it might be graphics or tech. Whatever you’ve been spending too much time banging your head against is a good place to start.
Remember, the goal isn’t to add more things by hiring people to do new stuff (at least to start.) Rather, figure out the stuff that you have been doing and find someone else who can do it as well or better.
Next Actions:
You’ve seen my randomly brainstormed and researched list… now come up with your own. Just dump all the possible tasks onto a piece of paper, and see which ones float up to the top as the biggest pains and best place to start asking for help.
Feel free to add a comment below if you think of additional tasks not on this list or gain some clarity about which tasks you want to find help for first. Maybe we can help you task the next steps!
Image used under License Agreement: ©Federico Caputo(alphaspirit) / Stockfresh
