HOW TO START DELEGATINGAND OPTIMIZE YOUR CREATIVE TIME

DAN  KENNEDY

Mul+-­‐millionaire,  copywriter,  entrepreneur  and  author  of  13  

business  books

“Disciplined  use  of  the  +me  everybody  else  wastes  can  give  you  an  edge.  The  now  rich  and  famous  writer  of  legal  thrillers,  ScoH  Turow,  wrote  his  first  novel  using  only  his  morning  commutes  into  New  York  City  on  the  train.  

“All  around  him,  others  just  killed  the  same  +me.  For  most  people,  these  minutes  don’t  maHer.  But  they  can.  So  when  you  say  to  yourself  ‘it’s  only  10  minutes,’  you  miss  the  en+re  point  of  +me.”  

–  Dan  Kennedy

There  comes  a  point  in  every  business  owner’s  journey  when  a  ceiling  is  hit:  you  have  only  so  many  hours  in  the  day...and  adding  any  more  to  your  plate  isn’t  an  op;on.  

What  started  as  a  juicy  idea  built  into  a  new  business  and  then  morphed  into  an  en;ty  requiring  sales  and  marke;ng,  accoun;ng,  customer  service,  compe;;ve  research,  networking,  etc...not  to  men;on  performing  the  service  or  crea;ng  the  product  the  business  is  based  upon.

You’ve  hit  the  point  when  you  know  in  order  to  grow,  something  has  to  change.

THE  CRITICAL  POINTshifting from self-employed to entrepreneur

The  thought  of  giving  away  tasks  in  your  business  may  be  paralyzing.  Hiring help can be daunting if it makes you think of having to be responsible for managing people. Or if you have no idea how you’d train someone on what you do on a daily basis.

It’s at this point that you need to hire help and begin delegating anything that isn’t high-leverage. In other words, the things that need done but aren’t going to grow you to the next level.

Start  with  delega;ng  the  tasks  that  don’t  bring  in  money.  So a consultant, for instance, should outsource bookkeeping and accounting tasks. These aren't how she makes her money. The purpose of delegation isn't just to have someone else do something; it's to free you to focus on using your talents and skills most productively.

Go  at  your  happy  pace.  In  fact,  you  might  begin  by  outsourcing  one  task    in  order  to  become  comfortable  with  it.  You  can  add  

addi:onal  tasks  as  you  gain  confidence.

(With  every  entrepreneur  we’ve  worked  with,  as  soon  as  they  get  comfortable  with  outsourcing  a  couple  things...suddenly  they  take  off  with  ideas  and  delegate  anything  that  isn’t  their  highest  leverage  ac;vity.)

LOOK  FOR  ROCKSTARS

When  you  have  the  first  few  tasks  ready  to  outsource,  find  someone  with  the  references  and  personality  you  can  mesh  with.  

Experience  isn’t  as  important  as  character.

You  can  train  an  enthusias;c  assistant  to  do  whatever  you  need...but  you  won’t  enjoy  working  with  a  jerk,  no  maHer  how  skilled.

Invest  ;me  up  front.  Devoting time to creating procedures, demonstrating tasks and making a system for accountability takes time at first---yet the result is a structured, automated business that you can grow with.

Give  examples  and  offer  feedback. Teaching someone your preferences and policies takes patience. However, the more examples and feedback you offer, the faster and easier it is for both of you.

Outsourcing  and  delegaBng  may  iniBally  seem  like  a  challenge...Yet it can revolutionize your business.

There are 4  “keys  to  success” that will ensure you don’t get tripped up in hassles, mis-hires and wasted time.

1.  HIRE  ROCKSTARS

Put time into asking for references or going through a multi-step interviewing process to find someone that is enthusiastic, detail-oriented and you feel good about.

Remember, choose character over experience. You can train them however you wish so they learn your style...but working with someone you don’t like, no matter how experienced, is never fun.

2.  CREATE  COMPANY  POLICIES

Take time to write your company’s strategic objective and operating principles. These are great to give you clarity on what’s important about the way you do business, and sets a standard for anyone working with you.

3.  CREATE  TRAINING  

Writing procedures and making screencast videos to guide someone on what to do and your approach will take time at the beginning---but builds a solid foundation your company will benefit exponentially from. This shifts you into operating your business as an entrepreneur, with a scalable model.

4.  BUILD  ACCOUNTABILITY

Having a system to track and log tasks, no matter how simple, will avoid confusion and delays. This way everyone can update and check in rather than relying on memory or assumptions to get the job done. It’s an easy habit to start from the beginning and keep everyone on the same page.

No matter how far away the idea of having an assistant and delegating to a team may feel to you

right now...I promise it’s easier  than  you  might  think.  

Starting with one task, you can build a system in a relatively short period of time that gives you the

freedom  to  be  creaLve and give  your  best  giNs  to  the  world  doing  what  you  do  best.

YOU’RE  NOT  FAR  AWAY.

WE WILL FIND, HIRE AND TRAIN YOUR PERFECT VIRTUAL ASSISTANT.

Get  your  busywork  handled,  without  the  headaches.