As a personal brand entrepreneur you might think that a business built on your knowledge, experience and reputation means you have to deliver everything your company does. That’s not the case.
Not only will it stunt your opportunities for growth but you will find yourself doing tasks you absolutely should not be taking on and risk damaging your health. I’m going to talk you through how to shift your mindset from doing it all to building a team.
Ditch your superhero syndrome
Superhero syndrome is something almost every entrepreneur I have ever come into contact with has experienced, including myself! It’s when you feel you need to handle everything yourself. Or when there’s a new task to carry out in your business and rather than give it to an expert, you decide to save a little bit of money and you end up sitting on Youtube trying to figure out how to do it. You will carry on struggling, doing everything yourself instead of asking for help. Sound familiar? We all suffer from superhero syndrome in some way, shape, or form.
The first thing you have to do is be honest with yourself. Are you a web designer or a graphic designer? If not, you shouldn’t be carrying out that work. Do you need to be answering all the calls and emails that come in to your business? Are you working evenings and weekends instead of spending time with your family or taking time out? Would you like less on your plate and more free time?
You don’t want to be physically trapped working in your business. You need to be in a position where you can step back and look at it strategically, and take time off to recharge.
Learn to delegate
Time is our most valuable commodity. Once you have spent it, it’s gone forever. You want to be spending your time on the things you are good at and enjoy. Other people will be good at, and enjoy, tasks that don’t fit your interests or skill set. You want to be looking at building a team. One way to do that is by using virtual staff.
You can start out by outsourcing something very small. Project-based outsourcing is a useful way to get a taste for how the process works. You will see the benefit of not having to do that work yourself and be more open to giving more jobs to other people.
Track your processes
Your business will involve lots of processes. You might not realise that at the moment but it’s true. Think about content creation, for instance. You will come up with an idea, research it, plan it out, create the content, then you will upload it to different platforms and share it. There is a step-by-step process that you go through every time.
If you’re planning to delegate – or even if you think you don’t have anything in your business you could give someone else to do – start tracking your processes. You will start to notice those repetitive tasks you do week after week that you could give to somebody else.
And you will spot tasks you can group together to create four or more hours of work that you don’t want, or need, to be doing. When you realise how much time you are spending on things which you do not enjoy and are not good at, you will want to hire someone to help you.
Good communication and building relationships is key
When you start to bring people into your company, whether they are carrying out a one-off project for you or work with you on a long-term basis, you should consider how your company operates. When it’s just you, everything operates your way. But when it’s you and at least one other, you have to think about your working relationship.
The number one rule of outsourcing is to be a good boss. For many virtual staff, particularly freelancers, you are not their boss and they don’t want you to be. What you both want is clear communication, a good brief and processes in place. If you want something done a certain way, you need to tell them what you expect from the start. Don’t turn around after they have submitted the work and say you wanted it done differently. This is why it is crucial to track your processes and know how you do things.
You need to shift your mindset from just you to being part of, and managing a team. The quality of work you receive is proportional to the quality of instructions you provide. You should also think about who is a good match for the work you require. It might be that you end up employing several VAs with different strengths. Get a clear idea of the kind of team you want to build and create good relationships with people who can help you achieve your goals.
Bringing people into your business can feel like letting go of control but you are just as in control as you were before. By putting clear systems and processes in place, building relationships and developing a team that can support you, you’ll be able to run your business more effectively, without it running you.
The number one rule of outsourcing is to be a good boss. What you both want is clear communication, a good brief, and processes in place. This is why it is crucial to track your processes and know how you do things. #Youpreneur Click To Tweet
Chris founded Youpreneur® in 2015. He is a serial entrepreneur, keynote speaker and author of the bestselling books “Virtual Freedom” and “Rise of the Youpreneur”. He hosts our podcast, live events and coaches our clients inside the Youpreneur Incubator. Chris is based in Cambridge, UK.
