“Perhaps the very best question that you can memorize and repeat, over and over, is, “what is the most valuable use of my time right now?”  — Brian Tracy

Building and training teams of qualified people to help you is a wonderful way to leverage your time – because it allows you to focus your energies where they can achieve the most meaningful impact.

And, in my opinion, one of the best ways to do this is by outsourcing work – i.e. hiring other people – employees, bookkeepers, contractors, etc. – to work with you.

Here’s an illustrative example.

Let’s say Sally is a consultant who charges $250 an hour to advise and develop deliverables for her clients. Then let’s assume that she regularly sets aside four full hours each week to generate and mail her client invoices, which means that she unable to bill her hourly rate ($1,000) during that time.

The way I see it, Sally’s losing a lot more than a few hours. Since she could hire a part-time booker for $25-$50 per hour, it’s actually costing her $800 or $900!

Keep this in mind as you continue to develop your online business and look for ways to delegate ongoing administrative duties and focus your energies on revenue-generating tasks or ones that play to your strengths and passions. That’s why I pay an hourly fee to someone else… they’re trustworthy, reliable and far more knowledgeable. And it frees me up to write books; advise clients and market my online businesses.

Here are some professionals you can hire to help out:

1. Bookkeeper - If you’re not good with numbers but want to keep your bank account under control get someone to do your invoicing, reconciliations and billing.

2. Virtual Assistant - These are people who can help you with administrative duties or in many specific areas of your business. With all of the technology available today, they can easily be located almost anywhere in the world. They can answer phone inquiries, manage email and schedule clients, among many other things. And as your business grows, you may even consider using your assistant as a kind of “gatekeeper…” one who can provide people with appropriate information and “shields you” from routine calls that might take up large chunks of your time.

3. Webmaster - Unless you are somebody who really believes that the core revenue-generating activity in your business is developing and modifying web pages — which for some people it is — then hire a webmaster, even if it somebody who organizes, maintains and updates content that you’ve already put in place. Even though you may be skilled in cyberspace technologies, it may not be the best use of your time.

Managers are people who never put off until tomorrow what they can get somebody else to do today. Unknown

If you are ready to take the leap, here is a simple roadmap getting started…

1. Create a system for outsourcing… Figure out what you want them to do, what they need to know and what method you’ll use to train them.

2. Create a checklist for all the tasks they’ll be responsible for performing

3. Practice an effective way to communicate with them and make sure you’re prepared to provide with the tools they need to succeed

4. Develop benchmarks for measuring their success and a system for tracking it… that is, communicate very specific objectives and timelines for completion and make sure they agree that they’re realistic and “doable”

5. Test out your hiring and training methods by hiring one person at a time… work out the bugs slowly, especially in the beginning

6. Streamline your hiring processes and learn to leverage… Use templates, develop manuals, and record training sessions… you’ll save time and money in the end.

adapted from Mastering Online Marketing by Mitch Meyerson and Mary Eule Scarborough

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