Using Delegation to Leverage Your Time

Using Delegation to Leverage Your Time - Podcast #4

March 2nd, 2008 · 12 Comments

After decluttering and organizing, delegating - or outsourcing - is one of the single most effective things you can do to up your productivity.

Actually, it is probably the single most effective thing you can do - you can even delegate your decluttering and organizing!

In fact, this is one of the main the reasons to outsource.

Every time you delegate a task, you are in effect doubling your time.

And it gets better.

If you are outsourcing a "lesser task" - meaning that if you are delegating a task that is keeping your from an A1 activity - such as a money making activity - you are effectively more than doubling yourself.

Especially if it is an activity that will bring you reoccurring income.

One rule that will be central to your success - so you always need to keep it in mind when you have delegated tasks is…

you need to constantly ask yourself - and answer - this question…

what can I do with this "free time" - the time that delegating has freed for me - that will give me the best results right now.

DELEGATION AT HOME

For work at home moms, learning delegation skills to use in the home is of utmost importance.

It can make the difference between tearing your hair out every day because you are doing chores that someone else can and probably should be doing instead of working. It's very frustrating.

And it can eat up a lot of your productive time.

In some ways, using delegation skills is like tackling a problem at the root instead of trying to solve the symptoms.

Preventing the fire rather than putting it out.

The good news is that it is of benefit to your family as well.

Not only will they learn responsibility and get a feeling of accomplishment themselves - even if they think they don't need it… they do - and you will be a calmer, happier person, you house will be nicer to live in, life will go more smoothly and you will probably make a better income - kids like disposable income!

So there is a lot in it for them too, in case you are feeling that it is unfair or not worth the trouble.

It truly isn't easier to do it yourself in the long run.

Be patient and they will learn that contributing to the family is a non negotiable.

If you are delegating to your family and still need more help, it can be of great benefit to hire someone to come in and take care of the messes for you.

DELEGATING AND OUTSOURCING - WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE?

Delegating and outsourcing are basically a different side of the same coin.

Outsourcing is a term we use in business, and generally means that you are hiring someone as a contractor to do a job for you.

It is the act of making an outside party a member of your team - either temporarily or on a more permanent basis.

It can be a one time job or on a reoccurring basis.

Delegation is the spreading out of tasks and responsibilities among people who for one reason or another are on the team.

HIRING A VIRTUAL ASSISTANT

A VA - or virtual assistant - is a good example of this.

A VA is a person that you can outsource work to, who will help you with tasks that you can delegate to them virtually, over the internet.

Working with a VA has become common these days.

It will allow you to do more in your business than you ever could alone, and some days, another way to spell it is R-E-L-I-E-F.

LISTEN TO USING DELEGATION TO LEVERAGE YOUR TIME PODCAST #5

Effective Delegation Skills: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This week's podcast includes some of my own personal experience with learning delegation skills and outsourcing.

OUTSOURCING RESOURCES

If you want to learn how to outsource, I highly recommend that you join Alice Seba's Outsourcing Sweetie monthly membership site.

I am going to be honest with you.

Outsourcing does give you major benefits - in time, productivity and stress reduction - all of which will contribute to your business success.

I would never want to go back to doing it alone again.

But it isn't easy, especially starting out if you have never managed others before.

And the stakes can be high.

You will be paying people. If you don't get it right, it can cost you.

Outsourcing Sweetie has got all kinds of resources that will teach you the best ways to do it, give you ideas on exactly what to outsource and how, and even provides a growing list of ready made instruction sheets for common tasks.

I can tell you, creating instruction sheets are my biggest source of pain.

It takes time, I often have trouble explaining clearly exactly what the steps are to a certain task - this is also very time consuming - a wrong step almost always takes more time - both for your VA to complete the task and for you to rewrite and explain your instructions - it can be frustrating.

When I see that Alice has included instruction sheets for something I need done, I do a happy dance.

And even better, you can suggest what instruction sheets you would like to see added.

The monthly calls are extremely helpful and interesting.

All in all, I really can't say enough about it, except that it will keep you on the right track and become the place you go to help you stay productive and to use outsourcing to the maximum benefit.

If you're an outsourcing newbie, it is a shortcut to learning one of the most important skills in operating your business.

I have purchased many of Alice's products, and this resource has become one of my favourites.

HERE IS WHAT YOU GET…

Private Strategies Area: Each week, you'll receive new strategies and ideas from guest experts to help you save time and make more money by outsourcing.

Ready to Use Training Sheets: Each week, you'll receive new strategies and ideas from guest experts.

Extra Resources and Tools: A growing library of outsourcing resources and tools to help you make the most of your outsourcing experience.

Member Calls: Each month, we get together to discuss topics and questions determined by YOU. You can also listen to the archives and read transcripts of the previous calls.

Member Discounts: Receive discounts and special offers on a growing library of tools and services to manage your business better. Everything from a free month of bookkeeping, a discount on transcriptions, survey services and more.

You can get a free Core Training MP# and transcript to get you started.

Just click on the link to find out what is in it.

Outsourcing - Core Training

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12 responses so far ↓

1 Corinne Edwards // Mar 2, 2008 at 7:00 pm

Great article, my Queen -

Hard for us control freaks to outsource. How many times have we said, “It’s easier to just do it than to spend the time telling someone else what to do!”

One thing I have always ousourced is cleaning. I hate to vacumn! It’s in my budget like food is.

But I am thinking about everything you said here. Great podcast too.

Thanks!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thanks Corinne, I agree and often find that I need to step back and ask myself if my time would be better spent setting up a task for Lisa or Sahrina instead of doing it myself, because it does seem easier to just do it - it really all depends on the task. Basically I try to always think leverage - will the time spent now, multiply itself later as I don’t have to do this thing anymore, or will it mean I don’t have to do something that I don’t like doing anymore.

And I do like control too, it was hard but the good news is that I have found many times that they do a better job than I would have, so it’s not so tough these days :0)

The mindset was an adjustment though.

I would LOVE to have someone clean my house. It’s a brrr in my bonnet at all times but I do have a system that really makes it better as long as I do it. (I have more about that on my home blog http://www.queenofkaos.com/home)

But I would find it distracting for one thing, and I am the type who would clean before housekeeper comes. And having 3 kids (10, 15,17), I figure between us all we should be able to manage it somehow (but a housekeeper would be easier!)
2 Raymond Chua // Mar 2, 2008 at 7:04 pm

I have never thought that delegation and outsourcing are so close. They just don’t come together to my mind.

Raymond Chua’s last blog post..The Secret to Eliminate Your Fear

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Hi Raymond, as you get systems in place and assistants trained, you can even outsource your delegating. That is the ultimate!

Outsourcing in itself is an act of delegating (as you delegate tasks to the person you are outsourcing too), but of course all delegation doesn’t need to be done by outsourcing. There’s plenty of delegation that can be done through “insourcing”.

They are not the same thing, but they do go together nicely.
3 Never the Same River Twice // Mar 3, 2008 at 3:48 pm

I’ve had good and bad experiences with outsourcing (if you’re interested, you can follow along with some of my adventures here.

I can definitely see where having a community and some good task templates can be valuable for people who are just getting their feet wet.

Never the Same River Twice’s last blog post..Weekend SmallChange: Visit an Ethnic Grocery Store
4 PreSchool Mama // Mar 3, 2008 at 4:01 pm

I could never survive without my tech guy to help tweak my blog. Outsourcing the techy stuff was the best decision I ever made.

PreSchool Mama’s last blog post..Tantrums and Shiny White Pearlies: Sunday Link Fest
5 JoLynn Braley // Mar 4, 2008 at 1:04 am

Hi Jan, do you have any suggestions on where to find a VA, especially if you can barter with each other?

Thanks for your suggestions, I tend to try to do everything myself but I’d like to outsource.

JoLynn Braley’s last blog post..Weighing In with Weight Loss Maintenance
6 Karen (Karooch from Scraps of Mind) // Mar 4, 2008 at 10:15 am

This is something that I’m still struggling with the concept of. I know it would be a good thing but I’m just not there yet, if you know what I mean.

Karen (Karooch from Scraps of Mind)’s last blog post..Domain Registration
7 GG // Mar 4, 2008 at 3:35 pm

Just dropped by after a long absence. Great job on the podcast–I wasn’t sure if the podcast was going to be the same or not. I just started out sourcing and picked my latest person because of her personality and willingness to be flexible but it does make me accountable and I can’t procrastinate (which usually isn’t a problem) because it is on my dime!

GG’s last blog post..Big Bear Makes the NY Times
8 queenofkaos // Mar 7, 2008 at 2:13 pm

@Maria - ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thanks Maria, I really enjoyed your blog post, some very good tips.

I find that the Outsourcing Sweetie resources are invaluable because every mistake has the potential to cost you in time and a good chunk of $$, and having templates to hand over instead of writing them out is the creme de la creme, that is the worst part of it all for me - I invariably leave something out or make it far more confusing than it has to be, I must drive my va’s crazy some days, having templates probably goes a long way towards employee retention too :0))

I prefer to learn from people who have already made the mistakes themselves (for a change, LOL!)
9 queenofkaos // Mar 7, 2008 at 2:17 pm

@PreSchool Mama ~~~~~~~~~

that is something I don’t have and really could use, is a tech person - it truly takes up FAR too much of my time and has even killed important project of mine.

Do you have any suggestions on how to find one?
10 queenofkaos // Mar 7, 2008 at 2:41 pm

@ JoLynn ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hi JoLynn, first hand referrals are probably the best.

If you frequent any forums you could ask around, twitter also has a lot of VA’s on it.
http://www.twitter.com/queenofkaos

For members, the Mommasterminds forum (http://www.queenofkaos.com/mommasterminds/about.shtml is full of work at home moms, many of them do VA work and some may be open to barter.

Or there are online places that can be very helpful in finding professionals like http://www.elance.com and http://www.guru.com (I’ve used it and it is set up well)
11 queenofkaos // Mar 7, 2008 at 2:49 pm

@ Karen ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hi Karen, I do know what you mean!

It took me many years to take the plunge, and I got really lucky because I posted a help wanted request on my blog and Lisa Marie, who had already been very supportive of my business and perfect for the job jumped right in.

When you do feel ready, start small and make the project is something measurable (to see if the cost is justifiable although sometimes it takes time to see results).

Unless you are hiring to get some things off of your plate that you don’t want to do, or have no time for. In that case, be sure they are things that really need to be done.

Lisa and Sahrina, my niece, are both very part time but indispensable.
12 queenofkaos // Mar 7, 2008 at 2:54 pm

@GG ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hi GG, I agree, flexibility works for me too! And a good match personality wise really makes for a more pleasant exchange, and can be critical, if not to success, than at least to happiness and sanity!

I found accountability to be the number one success factor in almost anything I do, so it is not a small thing. Almost an extra bonus to outsourcing.

Especially when working at home, accountable only to yourself.

Some days it can be really hard to stay on track if you don’t have anyone on board with you.

Work at Home Productivity Tips

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