Have you been struggling to find the time, resources, and bandwidth to get to your most important goals? You know, the ones that will really make the biggest difference in your business. This week’s blog may be just what you need.
Recently I shared that I had taken a creative pause. I didn’t feel like I had the mental or physical bandwidth to do certain tasks, so I let some tasks go while I prioritized others.
Obviously, this was a temporary solution because some of the tasks I let go were important.
Businesses and their owners struggle sometimes. Sometimes. It’s goes along with growth. But, if we don’t make the proper adjustments at the right times we will never break free from the struggle and it will be more difficult if not impossible to reach our goals.
One of the questions that I ask my new clients is how they rate their business in terms of its effectiveness. I ask them whether they are consistently providing decent service, good service, or excellent service. Then I also ask whether they’re struggling or feel overwhelmed trying to maintain that level of service. While it’s important to rate our businesses, if we are struggling, a problem exists that must be addressed.
Struggle is not sustainable in business, but it is inevitable.
Entrepreneurs have businesses to take care of, full-time jobs, aging parents, children, spouses and significant others, as well as their own personal wellbeing to manage.
Many owners feel overwhelmed like they don’t have enough bandwidth to do the things that are expected of them, that the business needs, or that they expect of themselves. That bandwidth may be physical such as time or ability to get things done, but it is often mental bandwidth.
During my fourth year of business, it became clear to me that I needed to delegate more. Things needed to come off my plate pronto if I was ever going to hit my goals. Often, a great place to start is with a VA, or virtual assistant. I plan to discuss VA’s in my next blog, because they can be invaluable, but today I want to discuss a different area of delegation that can significantly reduce the workload for entrepreneurs and quickly create more time on the calendar and more bandwidth to scale our businesses (or just enjoy life).
Consider the Entire Picture
As I looked to delegate and take things off my plate, I started, as most business owners do, by looking at the tasks and activities in my business. While there were several opportunities to delegate, I concluded that by only considering my business’s activities I was missing out.
I decided to look at the entire picture, including my life outside of my business. Once I did that, I was able to identify many more opportunities for carving out time that I could spend on growth generating activities in my business.
Ultimately, I decided that me scrubbing the toilets in our home was not helping my business grow and it was not going to help my family reach its financial goals.
Making Business Decisions
I want to be clear that it wasn’t as simple as deciding I just didn’t want to clean toilets anymore—although I do hate cleaning toilets.
This was a business decision.
This decision was made from a place of margin, or profit, in my business (money left over after expenses are paid). I asked the question, “where is the best place to invest this margin that would help my business grow?”
If you want to find more bandwidth so you can focus on growth and profit generating activities, but you haven’t considered activities in your personal life, try this exercise:
- Be honest- Are you spending enough time on your business’s priorities (things that will help the business grow) and things that only you can do?
- List your non-business-related activities (Some of mine: cleaning bathrooms, dusting furniture, dust mopping floors, cooking meals, grocery shopping, ordering groceries for my parents)
- Which tasks take up a significant amount of your time?
- Which tasks do you hate doing?
- Run the Numbers – Once you have identified potential tasks to outsource, ask these questions:
- What will it cost?
- Can you afford it (or can money be reallocated to allow you to afford it)?
- What are the potential savings/benefits (time, mental energy)?
- How do the benefits compare with other options for investing the money (even options in your business)?
In my case,
I estimated the number of hours I spent cleaning our home each month. Even with help from our son it was a lot. Post Covid, the house has been getting dirtier faster so it needed cleaning more frequently.
My weekends can be overloaded, cleaning the house took tons of my energy, time, and mental space away from family and at times getting caught up with things in my business
I was not able to dedicate the time I wanted to grow my business. There were activities in my business that only I could do and freeing up this time would allow me to do them. These activities include preparing to bring on others to support me as I scale.
The margin or cash was available to invest and the return on my time was significant
I hate cleaning toilets! We brought in someone who loves cleaning. Win, win!
Side Note A: I know expenses and deductions can be confusing. Please note that in my case, this is not a business expense. Instead of investing this money within my business, I increased my salary, paid myself, then paid Ms. Marli. I decided to use money from my business on personal services that would ultimately support the business.
Side Note B: Delegating parts of those responsibilities to kids is a wonderful FREE option and fabulous way to build responsibility where it makes sense when it is age appropriate.
Side Note C: Bougie guilt
Why do some of us feel guilty hiring help in our homes?
Sometimes it is because we come from a family history of domestic workers and hiring someone to come into our own homes can feel like we are dishonoring our ancestors in some way.
Sometimes we fear being judged as bougie by friends or family.
Sometimes fear says we are not competent in some way because we have an expectation that we “should” be doing this work.
Again, this is business. You are paying someone for a service and supporting another business and their families. You are benefiting by clearing your calendar, increasing your bandwidth, and creating space to do things that will help you scale.
If you are a business owner I don’t want you to miss the benefits of outsourcing tasks in your personal life as a strategy for business growth. Other ideas for outsourcing include; meal preparation, grocery shopping and delivery, lawn care, and errand running,
Want to learn more profitable strategies for your business? Check out this FREE guide 5 Things You Must Do If you Want To Increase Your Profits.