Know Your Strengths—And Weaknesses

This is a guest post by Felicia Goldwire.

If there’s one thing that holds business owners back it’s this: they try to do too much.
I don’t mean that they try to grow too fast. I mean that they try to do too much on their own.

They create their own content.

They man their own help desk.

They post their own social media updates.

They edit their own videos.

They write their own sales pages.

The list goes on (and on and on) and while at first glance it might seem like the DIY approach
makes good fiscal sense, the truth is, it’s killing your productivity.

Here’s why: You’re spending more time “figuring out” how to do all those things, and not
enough time where you really shine.

If marketing and social media are where your talents lie, then video editing is a waste of your
time. If you’re a top-notch listbuilder, then creating graphics is taking you away from important
money-making task.

Others can do those things more efficiently (and for less money) than you can.

Here’s another problem with trying to do everything yourself—you will hate it. And that which
we hate, we avoid. Suddenly, things are slipping through the cracks. Videos aren’t getting
posted because the thought of fighting with your editor is just too much to bear. Products don’t
get launched because the sales page is never finished.

There’s got to be a better way.  Actually, there IS a better way!

The key to really getting things done in your business is to know where your strengths and
weaknesses lie, and to do the things things that you’re good at AND enjoy. Everything else can
be handled by someone else.

Start by making a list of all the tasks that you find yourself procrastinating on. Those are the top
candidates for outsourcing. Prioritize your list according to just how much you dislike the task,
as well as how easy it would be to turn over to someone else.

For example, you might really hate to update Quickbooks, but if doing so requires access to
your bank account, then that’s something you might want to keep on your own task list—at
least for now. But if you also don’t enjoy (or simply aren’t good at) creating posts for your social
media sites, then outsourcing this task should be at the top of your list.

You don’t have to outsource everything in your business, but you’ll find that when you
concentrate on what you do well and let go of the things you struggle with, you’ll love your
business a lot more, and be naturally more productive, too.

Felicia Goldwire, Deluxe Virtual Assistance

deluxevirtualassistance.com