3 months into hiring her first virtual team member, she called me.
“Val, I feel like I’ve wasted hundreds of dollars and soooo much of my time.”
I took a deep breath and told her to take one too. Unfortunately, this wasn’t the first call I’d had like this so I was a pro at the answer, but she beat me to it.
“I just don’t have the systems in place to be able to delegate properly,” she said. “I’m fielding emails all day long from my new assistant who is just trying to help but it’s so overwhelming. How can she do her job if I can’t tell her what needs to be done? I know there’s a more streamlined approach so I can stop bleeding money. Please show me the way.”
We dove in right then and there.
Looking back on this call I have to tell you I get more than a little frustrated. I know that this business owner is a smart woman. She’s worked so hard for every penny she’s made and here she was throwing it away on time spent with a new hire who was making it harder for her to do her job.
And it wasn’t the new hire’s fault, either. It was hers.
Without a clear path from daily tasks to delegation, the road is rocky. By not taking the time to setup the processes to begin with, she landed herself with more work instead of less. She was working at night and on the weekends to catch up and finding herself thinking “maybe owning a business just isn’t for me.”
Ooof. #beenthere
I don’t know about you, but if I’m going to do something I’m not totally stoked about, I have to do at least one of the following:
a) find a way to get totally stoked about it
b) block off a big chunk of time in my calendar to make it happen
c) plop down some cash to hold myself accountable to doing the work
And when it comes to building out the systems and processes in my own business, I’ve had to employ all 3. Yes, even I dig up these tips when I need to put a new system in place in my business. I’d so much rather order Pho and binge watch the next season of Empire than prep my blog posting process so I can easily hand it off. I mean, can’t someone else do that?!
No. The answer is always “Put the remote down and do the work.”
So here’s how you can make it happen:
1) Start with one thing. Something you love and that matters to you but you’d rather not spend your time doing (the ol’ blog post is a great example for most people). To cover the “getting stoked about it part, put on some gangsta rap or funky jazz or 90’s Mariah Carey and have a dance party. Then start recording how you make it happen step by step.
2) Dedicate a set amount of time to doing the work. Try the Pomodoro Method or schedule a CEO Day or take a weekend long retreat.
3) Get some accountability. Join a program, team up with a friend, or hire a coach. Invest in yourself and your business now so you don’t waste money later on down the line.
Growing a business means you’ll have to do some work, love.
You don’t have to go it alone or waste your time and money trying to figure out how to run your dream business. Get the support you need to stop being “busy” and start building processes into your day to day operations.
