The Delegation Dilemma: Do I Have to Learn it Before I Outsource it?

Guest post by Melanie Benson Strick, The Million Dollar Lifestyle Business Coach

With so many tasks and so little time, we all get the value of delegating to other people to get more done. The ability to leverage other people’s strengths can not only bring more joy and excitement back into your life (cause you aren’t doing tasks you hate) but the revenue potential is unlimited.

So why then is James spending so much time and energy learning how to do the shopping cart so he can outsource it to someone else? Why is Amy investing $2000 on a “learning to blog system” when there are other’s who can do it better, faster and cheaper than her?

Maybe it’s the compelling feeling that many of us have to learn. The quest for knowledge that somehow validates a deep need to know it all. And I think for some, it provides a sense of security or control to know how everything is supposed to work. But is it really serving you to spend your valuable time, money and energy learning all the ins & outs of your business?

I remember the feeling I had when I graduated from San Diego State with my Bachelor’s Degree in Business Management. After getting past the culture shock of not having piles of assignments and the constant pressure of assignments due, I felt like there was a big gaping hole in my life. I missed learning.

So what did I do? I of course took on more learning…taking every class that Motorola offered on leadership, team building, project management, and soon found my way to my Master’s program in Organizational Management. Not too long after graduating again…there was that old “void” again. I needed my learning fix…and I started taking spiritual classes at my church (which 8 years later resulted in my spiritual counselor license) and at the same time I decided to get trained as a coach. Then it was on to marketing, online traffic generation, blogs, social networking…you get the point I think.

As I got serious about my business I had to reflect on how much time and energy I was spending learning new things. What was my time worth and did it really make sense to keep investing in all this learning? What was it getting me? I began to ask myself the tough question with every learning opportunity “Is this going to make me more money?”.

The truth is I was just feeding a little gremlin inside of me. For me, learning gave me a sense of control and power. If I knew what to do and when to do it, then maybe I’d be good enough to have my dream lifestyle and business. What I realized is that learning kept me from doing what would actually make me successful. It was like a big cozy comfortable blanket that kept me safe…and kept my worst fear in front of me…a real lack of financial results.

At some point I had one of the “I should have had a V-8 moments”. It hit me that no matter how much I learned it was not helping me get there any faster. It was much more cost effective to hire someone who knew how to do it so it would get done faster and hence, make a lot more money. If I had to learn it first, then I became the bottleneck!

The key to mastering delegation is adopting this CEO Mindset:

“Know enough to set the vision, goals and desired results. Delegate the tactics to people who can do it faster, cheaper or better than you.”

Here is an example. I have absolutely no idea how to update my website. I know what I want it to look like, what should happen when a visitor is on the site and even what experience I want them to have. But I made it a point to not learn how to update it.

Same thing with most of our marketing efforts. I know what I want done and I hire talented people who already know how to do it. I have a vague idea of what steps my team goes through each month to publish this ezine but I have no idea how to publish one myself. Set up a bridge line? Nope. I’m talented enough that I could probably figure it out (and I know my team has the system published in our online procedures guide) but why bother?

My job as CEO is to stay focused on my top 5 – 10 high payoff activities like writing, mentoring entrepreneurs on how to create their ideal business, designing powerful programs that serve my clients, and planning out where I want to be in 90 days to 5 years from now!

My challenge to you is to look at where you are holding yourself back by being the bottleneck. Where is your need to learn and be in control getting in the way of what you delegate? What are your false beliefs about what can be delegated well costing you playing the bigger game?

If you haven’t yet downloaded our free report on the 101 Ways to Triple Your Income by Outsourcing Your High Payoff Activities, I highly encourage you to do it now. This process will help you get clear on your highest payoff activities and bust this delegation dilemma for good!

About the Author:

Most entrepreneurs are continually battling overwhelm with too many things to do, opportunities to capture and money to make! Melanie Benson Strick, Million Dollar Lifestyle Business Coach & Virtual Team Building Expert, teaches entrepreneurs how to stop feeling overwhelmed so they can create more money, more freedom and more prestige.

Get the Entrepreneur’s Secret Weapon to revolutionize your results and get on the fast-track to a freedom based business. Take this free chapter from my book, The Power of The Virtual Team, as a gift from me at http://www.thepowerofthevirtualteam.com

Copyright 2007 Melanie Benson Strick and Success Connections Inc.

Leverage Your Expertise: Create Virtual You’s

Do you sell your services and products one-on-one?  If so, you are inherently limited in how much money you make.  You are trading hours for dollars and can only generate as many dollars as the hours you are willing to work.  To take your business to the whole world, you must deliver to more than one person at a time.

The first way to deliver your advice to more than one person at a time is to teach your expertise to groups of people.  This could be a one-hour class, a weekend seminar, a 4-week teleclass, or a virtual webinar.  The idea is that you already have a system that you use with your clients, one-on-one, and you can deliver that advice or teach people how to use your system, en mass.

The simplest way to start is with a one-hour teleclass.  You can obtain a bridge line for free (under 100 participants), and advertise the teleclass to your list and via various calendar services (newspapers, websites, seminar listings).  You may even want to start with a free seminar and use it to deliver your marketing message en mass, just as practice.  (By the way, record your teleclass and have it transcribed, and you have a free Special Report to offer your prospects and clients.)

Yes, It Does Become Easy

My first teleclass, How to Avoid the Top 10 Money Mistakes, had 12 people sign up, and only 1 person showed up (6 downloaded the file later).  I was scared to death, and practiced my presentation 3 times before the class.  I was worried about the bridge line not working, or that I would screw up the recording.  After the call, I was a wreck for the rest of the night.

Now I feel comfortable enough to do teleclasses, radio interviews, and my radio show with just a few bullet point talking points, and I’m fine with thousands of people listening to the sound of my voice.  Just like riding a bike, it takes a bit of practice to get used to it.  It eventually becomes easy.

An even more powerful way to deliver your advice to more than one person at a time is via information products.  Books, E-books, CDs, downloadable files, home study kits, seminars-in-a-box — these are products that teach your system or gives your advice.  These products are infinitely scaleable; you can deliver your advice to a million people via a book, with no additional work on your part (except for the marketing).  

As you are thinking of expanding your business, set aside time to explore leveraging your expertise.  Yes, there will be an initial investment in time to create the content or train assistants, but the potential long-term upside is infinite.  

Savvy Debt: Using Other People’s Money to Grow Your Business

Guest post by Melanie Benson Strick, Million Dollar Lifestyle Business Coach.  

How much debt do you have? That’s right, I’m just going to come straight out and ask. Is it $10,000? $20,000? $50,000? More?

And how did you get that debt? Investing in your business? Or was it buying TVs and traveling to Fiji? Chances are you obtained most of it while making purchases for your business like computers, coaching programs, and marketing tactics to help you grow. While you might refer to this as debt, it’s called leveraging Other People’s Money (OPM.)

Whatever you call it, the most important question is: How do you feel about that debt?

Read more

Ep. 30: How to Leverage Your Time, Money & Energy to Create Your Lifestyle Business

Elizabeth invites the Million Dollar Lifestyle Business Coach, Melanie Benson Strick, who shares tips to leverage your time with delegation that will make you more money and free your energy to create your lifestyle business.  Elizabeth will answer a listener question and share her entrepreneur success tip of the week.

Click here to download the show

Book Review: The 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss

Want to work just 4 hours per week, and still make enough money to enjoy the lifestyle you want? 

The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich by Timothy Ferriss -  is a brilliant and fun book that I highly recommend to teach you just how to do that — work as little as possible to get what you want. Read more