Why, Oh Why, Don’t We Delegate More?
“I’m going from doing all of the work to having to delegate the work – which is almost harder for me than doing the work myself.”
– Alton Brown, celebrity chef
What is one thing you should delegate to technology or a human right now?
I wrote to you last week that six weeks ago I hired a marketing company* to look after my blogging and sharing of the blogs to social and email. I mentioned that I am not ready - organized enough - to have them start converting my Google Docs into my blogs, but that they are working away on other Squarespace-y things that I need doing.
In last week’s note, I described the process of setting up my blog and converting it to other mediums. My blogs are storylines, so though I use AI to unstuck me, I still need to be the primary writer on them. I also want some specific sections in the blogs. Templates help, but I haven’t found an AI agent that can deploy the blogs the way I want them to go out.
My blogging involves proofreading (yes, I have Grammarly, but still these musings should pass through human eyes), editing, adding templates and events to the post, choosing an image, formatting and converting it to the email, shipping to social channels…
It is ridiculously cumbersome! Maybe you even judged me a little for not delegating this - I know I do. I bet some of you were wondering why I was even ever doing this? I wondered almost every week for the last year why I was. I kept letting it slide because:
I could do it myself - I know my way around Squarespace and social media platforms very well
There were some aspects of it that I found relaxing - there was a start and finish and a feeling of accomplishment (not unlike closing a set of books or filing a tax return)
I could control everything about how it got done - but it’s not that someone else couldn’t take my process doc and videos on how to do it and competently replicate what I do
It’s easy to keep putting off delegation - because delegation takes time and energy to set up in the beginning
My friend ChatGPT listed a few other reasons why we don’t delegate. These aren’t my reasons, but for those of you who are like me and aren’t delegating some of the silly things we should, they may resonate.
Lack of trust
Perfectionism
Lack of delegation skills
Fear of Repercussions
Lack of Awareness
Insecurity
Perceived Costs
I am revisiting this topic again with you to encourage you to delegate** where you can. It’s hard, but I do have a happy story of delegation to share. I had a bookkeeper, Marissa, helping with payroll for a few years and about a year and a half ago, I hired her to do all the day-to-day client work for me. It has been a great experience for my clients and me; she is a terrific bookkeeper and not only follows the processes and systems I designed but she iterates and improves them.
Part of why this is working well is she came from a course run by people I admire, Trifold Advisors; she dug in on the QBO/Dext Certifications and - possibly most important - I had painstakingly documented, and video’d how I do my client work. Of course, there’s more to the story of hiring Marissa, but the crux of it is I made the decision, and I haven’t looked back.
I also documented and video’d my blog and email campaign processes. Creating systems, processes, and workflows and documenting them is my gig. That’s how I’ve come to create a passive-ish revenue stream from them. I have always been one to get things out of my head. And I have a long history of being in the marketing and project management game, much longer than the bookkeeping one, so building communications and processes comes naturally to me.
You, however, are likely not a marketer, so I completely get it if you perceive that you haven’t got your systems in place to bring someone on.
Except for three things:
You will never be completely ready to hire and delegate
The right hire can help you with it
I didn’t have my blog content ready to go* when I brought on MediaBooks. But I had other things they could do for me. Last week, I carved out time to re-video (using Loom) and re-write how I want my blogs and emails created while I pecked one out. Right while I did what was my second to last one that I will be doing myself (today’s is the last one 😎😎😎).
You could start video’g and transcribing what you do right now. The very next time you start in on a client file. I am lousy at videos. Mine have no “production value,” and the sound is questionable, but they exist, and they transfer knowledge just fine. So I urge you not to overthink doing them; just start. And please, please, please - share them, don’t send them, and password-protect them if they are client work videos.
Of course, I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t mention delegating to technology and automation! One of the reasons I have been able to get along as long as I have - in this iteration of my business** - without admin or marketing people is that I have leveraged technology and created systems that make me insanely efficient (if I do say so myself).
From cloud accounting programs to back office ones, technology - some automated and some simply systematized - has, until the last while (when I began over-committing*), been my saviour. I know plenty of folks who aren’t leveraging technology and automation to delegate mundane tasks, often for the same reasons they don’t delegate to humans: money, trust, control, and a lack of awareness of the possibilities. If you can’t yet bring yourself to delegate to humans, I recommend you dip your toe into delegating to technology and automation!
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- Realize Meetup - Creating a Sweetheart Client Profile
October 17, 2023
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM
A mastermind session, in Jason Staats’s Realize Community, on defining who you want to work with, what services you want to offer and what technology you want to use.
This month, we define who we want to collaborate with!
Join us as we move through a worksheet and a lively discussion on what are your sweetheart clients.
Your sweetheart client is not just what their personality, niche or demographic profile looks like. In this masterclass, we look deeper at what makes our clients sweethearts - from providing only services you love and technology you are confident working in - we will add depth to the traditional “ideal client profile”.
This is a monthly series on client engagements I’ve developed just for the Realize Community event series. You must be a member to participate.
I highly recommend you join Jason Staats's amazing groupove it there!
Sociable
- said in your head in a loud sing-songy voice
FreshBooks made some big announcements this week, and the lead-up for the last few weeks has been a fun ride. Follow the hashtag #FreshAdventures for the big news.
Jason Staats is talking about his group Realize, and mentioning the great sessions and interactions it hosts (including my onboarding series, Swiping Right. I love this group, I’m guessing you will too!
Simply yours, Kellie :-}
::Shameless Call To Action::
I sell bookkeeping templates, standard operating process handbooks and client guides.
*I was so overwhelmed that I finally hired a marketing company. Partly, because I over-committed, there are so many things I love to do in business, and when the opportunities come my way, I have a hard time saying no (sound familiar?). The other part is I only work part-time and travel a lot. This lifestyle is important to me, and I tell you this not to gloat but because delegating - to humans and technology - allows us to have the lifestyle we desire (or at least bring us closer to it).
** I have had employees and contractors in past iterations of my businesses, so I do come from a history of delegation, just in case you are wondering why I felt I had the creds to write about this :-}
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