Think about having an additional 40 hours in your month.
How would you use them? Over the past two years I’ve outsourced different activities that result in me having over 40 more hours per month. It has been AMAZING and one of the best decisions ever made for me and my business.
My adventure with outsourcing started with a subscription to FancyHands. At the lowest level you get 5 tasks per month for $30. FancyHands helped me convert accounting data to QuickBooks online, research vendor options for online purchases, create a spreadsheet of new contacts from business cards and set-up conference call times. Even though initially there was a little guilt, it did not take long to really enjoy handing off these little tasks. Using FancyHands saves me an hour a month, but mentally it’s been great knowing there is help to take some things off my plate.
When you feel like you don’t have enough time in the week to get everything done you have to look at how you are spending your time. My next step into outsourcing came from Bill as he asked how long was I spending transporting the dogs to dog daycare. The roundtrip twice a week totaled 6 hours and he encouraged me to look at a pet transport service for help. I decided to give them the morning pick-up runs which saves me 3 hours a week. Yes, it does cost money, but I can make that back and more with 3 additional hours open for consults. I’m a morning person so am more productive without the break-up in the flow of my day.
In 2014, Robin and I decided to hire a virtual assistant to help us with The Dog Gurus customer support and administrative tasks. We started with 5 hours a week and within 2 months decided to increase that to 10. Again, the difference in the time saved and improved operations has been key to our business growth. We’ve created processes for customer service, website maintenance and administrative help freeing our time to create content and new programs for our members.
Knowing the success of The Dog Gurus assistant later that year I decided to hire someone from eaHelp for Crystal Canine. I’ve handled bookkeeping tasks for both entities plus Bill’s company and decided to make a list of how much time I was spending each month. It easily exceeded 10 hours a month and since eaHelp has a 5 hour a week minimum thought about other tasks that I would like to give up. For me this was easy…website maintenance and marketing support tasks.
It’s been over 18 months since I’ve had Jamie, my virtual assistant for Crystal Canine and I could not be happier! Yes, my expenses for the business have gone up, but that motivates me to create new programs and now I have the time to do it. The time gained to focus on tasks that only I can do is the motivator in my outsourcing journey. After six months I increased Jamie to 10 hours per week and last year decided to add a Social Media assistant also through eaHelp. Macy manages my social media accounts and helps grow our reach so we can serve more pet business owners.
In today’s world very few of us seem to have enough time in the day so it’s very important to assess how you are spending each hour. As Jeff Walker puts it; stay in your genius zone! Spend time on tasks that only you can do and outsource the others to people. Upwork is another favorite resource and Umar has created a custom powerpoint template and formatted documents for me. Each of these projects cost less than $75 each and saved me hours.
My business is stronger as a result of my outsourcing decisions. I’m excited to have the time to research and create new programs to help you, my customers. When Jamie joined my team I received an unexpected bonus…more weekend time which I’ve spent creating my garden and actually taking off at least one day each weekend. Spending time outside planning, designing and building a new garden has provided a fun outlet for me away from work. We all need time to enjoy personal hobbies and recharge. This is hard when you love your work, but breaks are good for you and your business.
It is hard to spend money outsourcing tasks you are capable of doing and I made that mistake for years at Urban Tails and Crystal Canine. Start by thinking about how you would spend 40 more hours each month in your business.
- Could you spend more time marketing, reviewing financial results and strategizing to maximize profitability?
- Could you create new service offerings or renegotiate vendor contracts to increase revenues and decrease expenses?
Next list the tasks you dread and keep putting off (these are obviously not in your genius zone). This is where you begin your outsourcing journey. You can start small and increase over time. Just keep focusing on you prioritizing time working in your “genius zone”.
You’ll find your business makes more money and you enjoy your life more too!