I had a conference call today with someone because I am struggling to effectively implement some important back-end systems in my business. Within the first 15 minutes of our call, she blew me away! Know why? Because her presentation highlighted all the things that I didn’t know AND all the ways she was qualified to help me. She made the gap between what I actually know and what I NEED TO KNOW abundantly clear…and then she showed me how she can help me close that gap so I can get the results I am looking for (*business owners take note: we should ALL be doing this in our businesses).
I want to point out that even contemplating hiring help is a MONUMENTAL step for me. In the 10 years since I launched the Self Esteem Through Art program, I have been a one woman dog and pony show and have done literally EVERYTHING myself. I create the programs, teach the programs, design the class samples, order and stock the inventory, create and update the Web site, create all of the sales pages, market the programs, design the logos and memes, manage payments/refunds, write all the blog posts, manage all of the social media accounts, do the research, continue my education, manage the studio, coach the private clients, and on and on and on. I pride myself on being self-taught and I love just about every aspect of being a small business owner.
BUT…
I have some really lofty goals for 2020 and I will be moving in a slightly different direction, while simultaneously continuing to manage all of the aspects of having a brick-and-mortar studio location. It is starting to become highly masochistic to think I can continue to do it all myself! I am spread too thin right now and I keep taking on more and more while not offloading anything. It’s crazy-making!
You Don’t Know What You Don’t Know
If I were to try to learn and implement everything that I need to learn and implement in order to achieve the level of success I am aiming for in 2020, it would take me literal MONTHS and MONTHS of full-time trial and error to even attempt to make a dent in my goals. I learned today that my tech-savvy has a ceiling and I have done a really good job building what I have built with the level of knowledge I have. But, it’s time to call a spade a spade: I am a self-esteem boosting, art making, coaching expert—I am NOT a systems expert. And a systems expert who geeks out on spreadsheets and conversions and all of the hidden functionality of Facebook ads is exactly what I need right now.
- I need high-converting business funnels.
- It’s time to level up to a more streamlined and professional social media strategy.
- Gotta pony up so I can strategically formulate and capitalize on an ad budget.
- I need to expand my reach and go from someone people have heard of to someone people absolutely NEED and WANT to do business with.
And I simply don’t have months and months of my own time to dedicate to this process—I need all of this knowledge mainlined into my business STAT.
So, tonight (after almost no deliberation) I signed the contract and agreed to make this investment in my business because I simply can’t afford NOT to.
Why Am I Telling You This?
I am sharing this story with you today because I KNOW there is at least one area of your life where you have been slogging along and trying to do it all yourself while multi-tasking and driving yourself into the ground. There is at least ONE THING you are trying desperately to be an expert in, but you are literally hemorrhaging time and money by trying to Google-search and fumble your way through the process. I am confident that when you can identify that one thing (or those dozen things) and commit to relinquishing control (and a bit of money), you are going to free up time, mental load, and sanity and rocket launch toward your goals (or simply bring some peace and balance back into your life, which you cannot put a price tag on, my friend)!
What Is Your Time Worth?
I have spent literally all of my entrepreneurial life telling myself that I “can’t afford” to hire help. I can’t afford the copywriter. No money for the virtual assistant. Why pay someone to maintain my Web site when that is what I used to do for a living and I can do it well? But the truth of the matter is, I have not been factoring the value of MY OWN TIME into the equation.
Hear me out.
I have a dollar amount that I know an hour of my time is worth. I won’t teach or see clients for less than that because I give caviar experiences and I won’t do it on a bargain basement budget. Are there big-picture exceptions? Sure. But the vast majority of the time I am the person dictating my worth.
An example: Jane makes $70K per year as a freelancer. That is roughly $33/hour for a 40 hour work week. Jane spends approximately 10 hours a week cleaning her house and prepping meals; tasks she doesn’t particularly enjoy, tasks that drain her energy and take her away from her family and her passion projects. We have already established that 10 hours of her time is worth AT LEAST $330 (10 x 33). She wants to hire a cleaning company to free up at least half of that time, but the cleaning company charges $60/week and she simply doesn’t feel like she can afford it. But, if she is a freelancer and she could free up even FIVE hours a week to roll back into her business, she would MAKE an extra $165 a week. Even if she paid the cleaners $60 of that, she still comes out ahead by over $100 per week! See where I am going with this? We’ve got to start doing better math! We have to start factoring in our TIME! We have to start getting really clear about our WORTH!
I am like Jane in the sense that my bread and butter comes from teaching classes. If I am not teaching, I am not making money. In order to implement the strategy I need to implement in advance of 2020, I would have to conservatively factor AT LEAST 15 hours a week into my schedule (to account for all of the self-teaching that would have to happen alongside implementation). Guess what? I don’t have 15 hours to give. If I gave it, I would have to drastically cut back on my program development and teaching schedule—a decision that would cost me tens of thousands of dollars. So, instead, I am choosing to INVEST potentially a couple thousand dollars so I can make tens of thousands more in return. In investing this way, I get to roll that found time back into DIRECT MONEY-MAKING ACTIVITY in my business. Sound investment, right?
I want you to think about where you have been telling yourself you can’t afford something and then truly look at the emotional, financial, and professional costs of NOT outsourcing. I think you will be surprised!
As for me, I am excited to let go of these pieces where I have been mediocre at best and see what the return on my investment is after 4-6 months. Wish me luck!