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.

In 2008  I co-wrote four books:  Mastering Online Marketing, Guerrilla Marketing On The Internet, World Class Speaking  and Guerrilla Marketing On The Front Lines.   Sound like a lot?  Yes it is but I couldn’t have accomplished this with out the following five principles.

I hope you can apply these ideas  to your business so you can get more done in less time as well.

1)  Develop A Clear Strategy

Know exactly what you are trying to accomplish and why.   For example, if you want to have a financially successful business it is very important to focus your time on your most important revenue-generating activities. This could be teaching group tele-courses like my Guerrilla Marketing Coach Certification Program or create or resell  products that people really need like an online shopping carts or e-books.

My online sales strategy has two essential parts. 1)  encouraging visitors that come to my website   2) converting subscribers into paying customers with an irresistible offer.

Do you have a strategy and system  for building your mailing list?   Do you  sell something people really need in this environment?  If not  it is time to look at your strategy and improve it.

2) Leverage  Your Time and Intellectual Property

To work less and make more  it is critical that you create, repackage and repurpose your content.   If you’ve written an article, consider re-purposing it as an audio, video, live  presentation or mini course  that you can deliver in the real world and online.

You can also leverage your time  by teaching courses to groups instead of just single individuals which of course will allow you to make more money per hour and also create a lively interactive environment.

What can you do today to leverage your time and existing content?

3) Develop Powerful Partnerships.

Find people who are energetic, focused and positive.   I have  had the  good fortune to partner with some of the top names in our industry  through Guerrilla Marketing,  Traffic School, Product Factory, and World-class Speaking Programs.
Each of my books and programs  had an excellent proactive partner and saved me a lot of time.

Working with great partners can inspire you,  get you thinking out of the box  and of course allow you to increase your  exposure by marketing to multiple mailing lists.  You may find someone who has a following in a niche  that would be perfect for your product or service.   You can offer them a commission or affiliate fee and you can both share the profits.

Ask yourself:   Who your industry would be a great partner  for you?  What do they bring to the table?  What do I bring to the table?  Be specific. What  is a win-win partnership?   If you don’t have a large list  to offer,  be a  guerrilla  and see what you can offer in terms of time energy and imagination.

How to approach a partner the right way

4) Implement Consistently.

The key to success in any business is not only having a great strategy  for finding powerful partners  but  taking action on a consistent basis.  The challenge with being an entrepreneur  is that our time is largely unstructured, which means it is up to us to stay proactive.

To create systems of structure and support,  I like the concept of the “accountability partner” and have one myself.   This is someone you can check in with on a regular basis to see if you are staying in action with your goals.   With my guerrilla marketing students  we are starting to set up  buddy systems and  accountability days were people check in on the hour  on the completed tasks.    Who can you enlist as an accountability partner?

5) Automate and Delegate

This is probably my favorite of all  because allows me to get my website to work for me  when I’m not even paying attention!   Consider this: There are people all over the world constantly visiting websites.   If they come to your site wouldn’t you like them to join your mailing list?  If so  set up an opt in box with an irresistible offer and  increase your visitor to opt in conversion dramatically.    My Easy Web Automation system  not only  makes this optin easy  but allows me to sell products on my website and have the money funneled right in my bank.   What can you automate on your website?

Now more than ever,  it is essential that you use your time wisely,  develop a sound strategy,  build powerful partnerships,  automate  and take action on all these ideas.   If you do, you will be in the 15% that not only has a growing business  year after year but you will get a lot more done in less time!

Interested in our next Guerrilla Marketing Coach Certification Program. Learn Low cost, high impact marketing strategies perfect for challenging times.

Get the full story here: www.GMarketingCoach.com