One of the symptoms of being in a growth spurt is that things can feel out of control. Many of your carefully crafted processes are no longer working, and your company just feels like it is bursting at the seams. You probably feel overwhelmed and stretched beyond your limits.
The goal of a true CEO should be to do only the things that are going to have the biggest revenue impact.
This can include long-range planning, developing and nurturing key relationships, and creating visibility for your brand and your company. As the pace of business escalates, it is tempting to get buried in the weeds, tending to the details because there is so much going on.
Learn to let go.
Letting go of the “no one can do it as well as I can” thoughts is one of those stages of personal growth that all entrepreneurs need to pass through. Remember, just because you CAN do something does not mean that you SHOULD be doing it.
I know how to sew, but I’m definitely not making my own clothes. (Tried that in high school – what a disaster!) You probably did everything in the early stages of your biz, but that’s not where you are now as you dive into the second or third levels of maturity as a business.
Get busy getting un-busy!
Think about the functions and duties it takes to run your business and assign an hourly rate to each. (Guessing is fine here; you just want to establish the relative worth of each.) Also, think about the tasks that ONLY you can do, and should do.
Make a list of the tasks that you could easily outsource. And by outsourcing, I don’t mean hiring a whole new person to your team. Think of contracting even for only 5 hours a week, or by project, to get you started with getting the task off of your desk. Here is a tiny sample of thing you might consider outsourcing.
| Bookkeeping Calendar management Cold calling Copy editing Copywritingcustomer support |
Invoicing Prospect screening and vetting Report creation Research Social media posting and management Video or podcast editing |
My biggest “aha” moment in January of this year was when I realized that while content creation was going to be a big part of my business, copywriting and editing were not my strengths. I did some research and discovered a world of copy editors who could take my rough copy and polish it to be far better than the original.
Where are there opportunities like that for you? The added benefit is that I’m far more confident in my copy now and have gotten over the fear of creation. That’s a world of pressure off of my mind, and it has opened me up for more of the things that I can and should be doing.
A VA (virtual assistant) can be hired on an hourly rate for even a small block of time: 5-10 hours a week. You can try them out before making any kind of commitment. You can have multiple VA’s with a variety of skill sets.
Check out Upwork, or Fiverr for ideas on the kinds of tasks that you can outsource and their relative prices. Most of these sites will provide user reviews and ranking of the performance of the contractors. You can also ask for samples. Give them one task to do (pay for it) to make sure they are a good fit.
If you have a team and you are facing burnout, then your team is not big enough, or they are not doing the right things, or you are not delegating enough. If you don’t yet have a team, then start building a small support staff. Every dollar you spend for help will come back triple in revenue based on YOUR activities.
Go ahead and take the leap to the next level!