5 tips for making outsourcing smooth
I almost can’t believe that there are only 4 weeks left to go until we are expecting our little bundle to arrive! As I’m sure you and especially other mummas can imagine these last few weeks of pregnancy have been more exhausting mentally & physically.
And let’s not forget I am also the CEO of my very own business, I’m a blogger, a VA for other businesses, a wife, a mum to my 5 year old daughter and a homeowner. When you bring all these things into the equation, it really does make you think “how do I manage all this?”
“So how do I do it?” So many have asked me and I have to say the key is preparation. (Check out this blog for tips on preparing) But the main reason I am able to take the time to spend with my family through my upcoming maternity, knowing my work and clients' work will still get done, is down to outsourcing! And yes I am VA myself, so it's others that usually outsource their work to me but that doesn’t mean I can not outsource myself.
Outsourcing parts of your business (or parts of your life) is so important. We all want to be superwoman but we don’t have to be all of the time. There are plenty of people out there ready to support you to make life that bit simpler and support you on your journey to success.
Here are 5 ways how you can outsource your work and make it a smooth transition.
1. Step into your CEO
First things first, step into your CEO and own it! If you are a business owner yourself you probably are quite independent and used to doing it all on your own. Surrender to the knowing that you don’t have to be the chief of everything in your business and you don’t have to wait till you have a 6 figure business to outsource. In fact if you start to outsource tasks now in your business it can free up time for you so you can instead concentrate on growing your business, other money-making activities or create more time for you to spend with your family or like me a baby!
2. Become the project manager
If stepping into your CEO wasn’t enough, it’s now time to become the project manager too. But don’t worry it’s not as hard as it sounds. All you need is a project management tool like Asana, Trello or Clickup. I use Asana as it is a very easy way to delegate tasks to team members and set due dates. Before this though, I would suggest a brain dumping session of all the tasks you do in your business, and for your clients businesses. From this, set aside the tasks you could hand over to someone easily, which ones you really do not like doing or are draining your energy and which are taking the most time. These are the tasks you should think about outsourcing first.
3. Teamwork makes dream work
We all want our business dreams to work and having the right team behind you can help you on that path quicker. It can also be a very time efficient task to do compared to the usual corporate method of hiring an employee. There are so many virtual assistants, freelancers, solopreneurs, mumpreneurs etc out there, available and dedicated to helping other entrepreneurs businesses succeed. There are thousands of Facebook groups where you can put a post to say what you are looking for, freelancer sites or even put a post or a story on Instagram saying you are looking. You’ll be surprised how many responses you’ll get straightaway. To make it easier to pick the ones you want to jump on a call with, be clear about what you are looking for in your advert. Although it's easy to find someone, it needs to be the right person to fit the tasks you wish to outsource. If a particular task is not your expertise or you do not have time to train someone in that particular platform, look for someone who is already a whizz at that task or software. If you are looking for help with more menial, repetitive tasks, maybe look for an associate who is happy to take on a lower hourly rate and eager to learn. And of course someone you think you’ll be able to gel and work alongside with well which I think is the most important part.
4. Clear communication is key
Let’s get back to that project management system. All the tasks you are setting for your team can be put on boards in preparation and delegated to your team members. Add all important information here and be clear about the dates they are due for. So all team members can go back to this for clarification and easily organise the workload in priority order. Following up in a handover meeting can help to ensure you are both on the same page and any questions can be asked there. But if most of the communication is kept to the board in one place and concise, it’s easy to find without someone having to come back and ask you a million questions and waste each other's time.
5. Empower your life
As I said before, it’s not just a business I'm running but it’s also a home, being a mum and during lockdown - it was an educator for my daughter. If it’s the home life that is really holding you back you could choose to outsource some of these things instead. Cleaner, childminder, playgroup - you have to start with the things that are going to be the easiest for you to outsource and use your time efficiently to leave you to focus on what you need to do to be that CEO. A crucial part of outsourcing is ensuring you do it so it still leaves time for you to have your “non negotiables”, a walk in the morning, 40 minutes in the gym, 10 minutes of meditation, time with friends. All these things have now also got to be your priority, not just your client work because how can you empower other businesses without empowering your own life?
I know how much having my associates is supporting me in making this transition easier. It makes life much easier knowing I can go on maternity leave and hand over all of my clients tasks and a lot of my tasks to my team members. As well as also allowing the possibility of taking on new clients to remain open even during this time. My incredible team is supporting me to do exactly what we’ve always done at LJ Your Virtual PA, empower our clients to take back control of their time.
We will be operating as normal so book your connection call here xxx to see how we can empower your life.