To achieve my business mission, I cannot be bogged down creating websites, running social media campaigns, building sales funnels and doing my own PR.
If I want to do what I do best, I leave the rest to the best.
This is otherwise known as outsourcing.
It is easy when you start a business to get trapped by the need to do everything yourself. After all, unless you have big capital backing you, budget is always a consideration when taking those first few steps in a new business – there is only so much money to go around and you have to be careful where you spend it.
Outsourcing does cost money. However, it is all how you frame that spend. I think of it as an investment – in my business, my time and my clients. I can’t be writing books, coaching clients and sharing my knowledge if I am focused on getting my SEO right or writing the next media release or building a website. All those things take time away from my speciality.
Of course doing everything yourself does save you money, but it also costs you a lot more than you realise. There is always a cost and price for everything you do and don’t do. The fact remains, you either have time or money. For anyone who wants to move forward quickly, time is not what you have.
For me, outsourcing saved me TIME. I only have so many hours in the day (like all of us). I want to be able to spend time with my family and serving my clients. It is really that simple.
Over the past few months, I have been working with a media company to bring to life my new full digital presence. That has meant filming videos, editing and transcribing videos, writing content, setting up the sales funnel and social media to support it. The process has been so much easier because I trusted the professionals to do it. They have created an incredible website; one that would have taken me three times as long to achieve and it would not have looked as good. We have done in two months what would have taken me years to complete.
Outsourcing work does mean you have to let go – of control and fear.
As the author of the Fearless series, I know how crippling fear can be. As an entrepreneur, you are dealing with so many things outside your comfort zone. That niggling voice in your head telling you you’re spending too much, you’re going to go broke, you can do it better… what if they make a mistake that ends up holding you back?
That is fear. It is not there to serve you. Embrace the love you have for your business and the love and appreciation for people who have skills you don’t and surrender to outsourcing.
Focus on the $1000/hour and $10000/hour tasks that no one else can do. Like changing your customers lives. Find the $10/hour and $100/hour tasks and outsource them to people who know what they are doing. Yes, it will cost out of your pocket, but it will save you more in the long run.
For every week I didn’t have my digital presence up and running, it cost me tens of thousands in lost revenue. It is an investment, and if done properly, will make you a hundred fold what it cost you to setup.
I also do this with my social media, and with my publicity. Why waste my time learning something that isn’t my core business. My publicist has over 30 years experience in the game, and can get results for me quickly. My social media manager is getting results that make the big players blush.
A small business can grow, and grow fast. It doesn’t need staff to get moving, it just needs the right attitude, some healthy delegation and a keen eye for real talent.
