"Why Are You Doing Everything Yourself?"
I know for some of you ‘control freaks’ out there this one’s gonna be tough for you. But read on! You might find how EASY this can be, really.
When I finally gave in to delegating from my extremely ‘do-it-myself’ mentality at first I admit it was a bit hard. I was always double checking things and everyone around me to make sure they were doing it ‘right’. I probably drove my first Virtual Assistant absolutely NUTS!
However my coach at the time kept showing me how important it was to become really successful in my business, and to make a six or seven figure income, that I needed to surround myself with experts and a support team of people who could take on all the things in my business (and my life!) that:
- I didn’t like to do
- I didn’t want to do
- I didn’t know how to do or
- That someone could do BETTER AND FASTER than me!
So, one day I put together a list of things like this and to my surprise the list was quite long! It was kind of a ‘wish list’ so to speak that if I could wish for someone else to do these things, then it would free me up to do the things I LOVE TO DO which is brainstorm and consult with clients on new ideas they can implement to get them more business!
Plus I had a TON OF IDEAS to implement in my own business too – but there was never enough time in the day/week to get to ANY of them! This bummed me out. I knew that it would take me years to implement all the great ideas I had if I continued to do it all myself.
I just saw an article that Ali Brown wrote (and I’m not including it here but I’m giving her credit for this part!), she’s an expert at this delegation and virtual team building stuff, and she mentions there are 5 things you MUST DO to overcome being a CONTROL FREAK:
– First, you have to change your MINDSET
– Second, you have to know WHAT’S MORE IMPORTANT
– Third, you have to hire the RIGHT PEOPLE
– Fourth, you have to have SYSTEMS
– Fifth, you have to have TRUST
Here is my main list of tasks that I typically will delegate to a Virtual Assistant, copywriter, web designer or some other support team member of mine – it’s fabulous – you should try it!
- Bookkeeping: tracking expenses, sales and tax records
- Internet research to get me better SEO, more traffic, etc.
- Article Marketing all my current articles, shuffling them around, refreshing them
- Maintaining my customer mailing lists on an easy to use database
- Creating extra pages on my website as needed
- Handling recordings of teleclasses, burning CD’s, mailings, etc.
- Handling bounced emials from Constant Contact, updating with new
- Formatting e-books and other online products
- Designing PowerPoint presentations
- Sending out ebirthday greetings to clients
- Handwriting follow up notes and mailing out postcards
- Data entry of all new contacts
- Transcribing teleclasses
- Posting on blogs, forums and social/biz networking sites
- Developing my Networking Calendar every month
- Managing my shopping cart account and merchant account as needed
- Creating Google Alerts
- Proofreading
- Updating my YouTube page, videos and adding technology to my website
- Submitting press releases online or locally
So, what’s on your plate that you shouldn’t be doing, hate doing or aren’t really that good at doing that you should DELEGATE??? And don’t forget about the personal tasks too like housekeeping, landscaping/mowing, shopping, cooking, making travel plans, errand running, etc. – you can pay someone to do ALL OF THIS you know? Ask yourself “What is YOUR time worth?” and free it up to do BIGGER AND BETTER THINGS!