The Value of Consistent Delegation
We want others to value our time. We value the time of others. We expect value and also provide it. We aim to ease the stress that clients endure if they don’t hire us for our expertise. This is where service providers go off the rails and lose sight of the value of consistent delegation. We don’t consider the stress we cause ourselves when we attempt to do things that drain our time, that we don’t like to do, and that we’re just not good at.
Let me explain. When you have a high priority project, when you return from vacation, when you amplify your visibility to attract more business, the pressure is on. We hit that business owner survival mode and start giving out responsibilities to our “off-site” team. We farm out the tech, research, and strategy. Whether it’s a VA, designer, marketer, decorator, organizer, etc. we don’t hesitate to invest in other professionals so we can focus on what we do best.
But business can ebb and flow. When things are on the slow side, rather than use that extra time to work on our own business, or take time for ourselves and with family, we suddenly convince ourselves that we are a jack of all trades. Maybe you try to make changes on your website, or handle your quarterly bookkeeping and taxes, or refresh your branding. You know you’re not great at these things, but you think that it’s free when you do it yourself.
Just because you’re not paying money for it doesn’t mean it’s not costing you. Here are the places you’re paying for your choice:
Time. Any expert is going to get it done faster than you can. period.
Quality. The level of service you get from an expert vs. DIY will always be better.
Brain space. Every service requires some sort of research and strategy. You will have to start from scratch for both, but an expert already has knowledge and experience.
Stress. Doing your job and doing the jobs better suited for others will put you in the fast lane to the burnout highway.
Money. Whether it’s a client you can’t squeeze in, or something you messed up and now have to pay to fix, not hiring an expert can cost you much more.
I don’t know about you, but I feel fantastic when I help a client achieve their goals through planning, delegating and executing necessary tasks. I feel not so fantastic when I attempt all the things that I’m not great at. I don’t want an A for effort, I want an A for expertise.
Almost every entrepreneur I talk to went into business for themselves partly for flexibility. But when they get that flexibility they don’t know what to do with it. Instead they busy themselves, many times with work they don’t like or know how to do.
So how do we fix these urges to “save money”, lose time to tedious research, or do the thing we hate, just this once?
Embrace the Difference Between Investment and Expense
An investment is something you pay for because you know it will yield you a profit in the future. It could be an executive coach, a marketing consultant, or a business strategist. Or it can be a new software, phone, computer, or printer. It’s always something that propels your business forward.
Expenses are the necessary costs of doing business day to day. They are maintenance fees.
I recently invested in hiring a sales strategist. It cost money, but I learned strategies and techniques that I can use long term to grow my business, particularly my revenue.
Money is Time and Time is Money
Let’s break this down. If you charge $200 an hour for your work, and you use your free time to mess around with your website or bookkeeping, and you spend four hours working on it, that’s $800 worth of time. However, if you hire bookkeeper or designer who makes the same amount or even more, but they can do a better job in half the time, it will cost you $400 and leave you with two extra hours to either make the money to pay that bill, or to do something for yourself.
And that’s if all goes well when you attempt to do what you’re not great at. If you make a mistake or mess something up, you’re going to pay even more. None of this propels you forward so it’s technically an expense.
Regardless of whether you have the time to do the work or not, if you hire someone who guides you in the right direction, does an efficient and excellent job, it means less stress, more time for you to do the work you love, and an investment in moving your business forward by allowing you to make more money and elevating your business by investing in the service of an experienced professional.
It all comes back to clarity around your worth and value, by investing, not spending, your time doing the right things for your business.
Whether I’m working 1:1 with my clients or in a group, I guide them through the necessary tasks to achieve their business goals, and that usually involves investing in themselves and their business. If you need support around this or anything else keeping you stuck and you’re ready to move forward, let’s talk about your options.
P.S. Ready to stop spinning in place and get to the other side of your goals? Here are several ways I can help:
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