How Paying for Help Can Make You Money!
Today we're going to be talking about something that can sometimes be a little nerve-wracking and even a little scary: outsourcing! I want to share with you the system that helps me know when it's the right time for me to outsource something. We're going to talk about how much it costs to outsource and how this can help you make more money in the long run. (Because, yes, this can actually make us money!) If you're feeling stuck in your business, bogged down by your to-do list, or just have some tasks that you really hate doing you're going to love this episode!
LEARN MORE ABOUT THE TOPICS DISCUSSED IN THIS EPISODE:
"There are going to be seasons of hustle. But then there's also supposed to be a reward after doing so. What type of life are you building, by building this business? I know that we all want to build a business that gives us a life that we'd love. Sometimes it's just something that we forget."
How do I decide what to outsource?
So you know you're bogged down, falling behind on everything, and need to outsource some things. But what can you and do you need to outsource? How do you figure out the tasks to delegate to someone else?
The Delegation Matrix is my favorite tool for figuring this out! Take some time and put every single piece of your business into one of these quadrants:
1 - Things that you like, and are good at.
2 - things that you like to do, but that you're not really good at.
3 - things you dislike, but you're good at.
4 - things that you do not like to do, and that you're not good at.
Get super thorough and list it all out! I'm talking everything from shooting photos to editing photos, to video, to social media, to writing blog posts, SEO, research, uploading, responding to comments, literally every piece! I bet you can already guess which one I'm going to suggest that you outsource.
Before you even outsource though, take a close look and determine if some of those things are truly necessary to your business. Can this be an income or traffic driver for your business? Is it going to make you more money? Is it gonna help you get more sales? This is a perfect opportunity to look at everything you are doing in your business and make sure it's all valuable. Sometimes we can easily bog down our to-do list with things that we think we need to do but aren't all that helpful right now.
So now that you've looked at everything you are doing in your business and weeded out anything that wasn't necessary, whatever is left in quadrant #4 is what you'll delegate first.
What Types of Work to Outsource
There are two types of work you can outsource - Continual and Project-Based
- Continual Work
This is where you would hire them someone on a month-to-month basis. Often, they would have you signed for like three or six months at a time and it's a set fee per month. And then you can get a certain number of hours or a certain number of deliverables each month, based on whatever their rate is.
- Project-Based
Maybe you need your site overhauled and want to bring in an SEO specialist for just that project. Or you'd like to hire someone to create Lightroom presets that you will sell. Any single task that is not recurring would be project-based.
How can this help you make more money in the long run?
One of the things to keep in mind is that you cannot necessarily compare hour to hour. What I mean by that is something that takes you 20 hours a month may not cost you 20 hours of someone else's time. If you're hiring an expert at Pinterest, for example. What may take you 20 hours could take them 10 because this is an area they excel in.
So if you spend, let's say, $300 to $500 a month on a virtual assistant to help you with Pinterest or whatever it may be that you want to outsource. What can you do with the hours this free's up for you? This could give you the capacity to pitch more brands, to negotiate, and to sign one or two more brand deals in the process. If you sign a $1,000 because of the additional time you've freed up that you're paying someone $500 for, you've already made money!
How can this improve your quality of life?
This is something that I will recommend that everybody just look at. What do you want your life, your day-to-day personal life, to look like a year from now? Because it's not just about the income, it's about us being able to provide for ourselves and create that freedom and flexibility that we want. It's also about creating a life that you love. And if you're doing things that are draining you, and you're going to bed each day frustrated, and you're waking up frustrated, and you're on the weekends exhausted, like that's not creating a life that we love. You can push hard for a season, but you can't push hard forever.
What type of life are you building by building this business? Just a little reminder for you guys. It's about the money, but it's also about building a life that we love.
Additional Topics Discussed:
- What does it mean to outsource?
- How much does it cost to outsource?
Resources Mentioned
More about Bree:
Bree Pair is a blogging coach and founder of Thrive - A blogging community built to empower and educate bloggers to make a full-time income by spending time on the right things. Her passion is helping bloggers create a strategy for growth and working with them on every side of their business to give them the confidence they need to be successful. Bree is propelled by the results of seeing bloggers go from overwhelmed to steady and sustained growth and creating the lifestyle they want.
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