To-Do List Taking Over Your LIfe? Outsourcing 101.

Hey Friend!

In today’s quick tip Tuesday episode is related to outsourcing 101. And I answer Liz Henderson’s question, “When and how to outsource when you feel like the to-do list is taking over your life?” I so know this feeling and remember the overwhelm and anxiety that came with being a solopreneur. Raising my boys, working from home, keeping a house, and, and, and, and…

That’s why today I will be sharing with you why, when, and how you can outsource and get some help in your biz. I share the most important things to get off your plate and how someone can easily and quickly come on the team to create more space for you to do the stuff that actually matters.

I also explain how you can get interns or VA’s by bartering, or at a super affordable rate! Getting help doesn’t have to be hard. If you run a business and you have dreams of getting out of the weeds and scaling, this one is a must.

I pray this blesses you.

FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPTION:

(00:00):
It’s Quick Tip Tuesday. Hope y’all are ready for this quick tip. Liz Henderson, shout out for asking an epic question around the never ending to-do list and the drowning in all of the things when we’re starting a biz.

(00:17):
Girl, I feel this so hard. So today we’re gonna be talking about outsourcing. When should you do it? Why should you do it? What do you outsource? And then finally, where do you actually find good people? So stay tuned. Let’s do it.

(01:37):
Hey Stef! This is Liz, one of your students. I am loving the courses and what I’m going through, what I’m learning, how I’m growing and really excited to launch my podcast. But I wanted to ask you about outsourcing because I feel like I do a lot in my business. It’s a constant checklist every single day. And I’ve got two little boys.

(02:00):
I stay home with them, which I’m so blessed to be home with them and able to do something I’m passionate about alongside of it. But I don’t wanna take away that time from them by adding more to my plate. I don’t know if it’s the right time to outsource. I don’t know when it is the right time to outsource and what I should be outsourcing, what I shouldn’t.

(02:19):
So you seem to have an amazing team around you, and I would just love your input on when you knew it was the right time to outsource certain aspects of your business, what you decided to outsource, how you went about finding those people and any advice you have for a mama who doesn’t wanna just be adding more to her plate but wants to continue to serve and grow her business and what she’s passionate about. So thank you so much. I’m really looking forward to your input.

(02:48):
Liz, I so feel you on this and I get it trying to navigate the kids and the things and the home life and the building of the business and the to-do list and all the things like it just feels like so much. And it is so much until you get your foundations set and you get all the things where they need to be, and then it’s freedom.

(03:07):
So the first thing that I wanna encourage you to do is really take a look at inventorying your activities for three full days, take a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, inventory every single thing that you are doing from morning until night. I want you to take a green highlighter, and I want you to highlight every single thing that you did for your business.

(03:25):
I want you to take a pink highlighter and highlight every single thing you did in your personal life that is a static recurring event, like taking your kids to school, morning, routines, evening routines, et cetera. And then in some other color that you find just disdainful like an orange, or just kidding, whatever other color you have left, I want you to highlight everything you did that was a time waster.

(03:48):
Any social media time, any scrolling, any numbing out, any whatever it is, walking around in circles, wondering what you should be doing. I don’t know, highlight those things because that’s the actual time wasted that we could be filling with productivity and a activity items. So that’s the first thing you need to do.

(04:06):
And then you need to actively cut those time wasters out and fill those with production activities. That’s the first little quick tip to help you. The second quick tip to help you is I want you in those green things that you highlighted, the recurring events that you’re doing in your business every single week, I want you to pull out of those and make a list.

(04:25):
Two things, one things that are always recurring. So what do you do every single week? That’s recurring. So this would be recording a podcast, uploading a podcast inbox management, whatever else. And then on the right side of the paper, I want you to pull from this and put special projects.

(04:43):
And then I guess I have one more column for you now that I’m thinking of it, which is things that you absolutely dislike in your business. So for me on that third column would definitely be managing my Facebook group. I just do not love it. It does not light me up.

(04:56):
However, it’s a recurring task. So you’re gonna notice some of these things on this three call column paper are recurring and or something you do not love. You’re gonna notice some of your projects are also on the third column of what you do not love. Those are the things you start to outsource. Now, the easiest thing to outsource in your business are the recurring tasks.

(05:15):
So for me, the very first thing I outsourced was the inbox management. The second thing I outsourced was my client management. Third thing was getting podcast editing. Fourth thing was podcast promotion. Fifth thing was social media management, managing my free group. The comments in there, all of that, the fourth thing was getting my blogs created for me.

(05:36):
So it’s a slow evolution of the recurring tasks in your business to get you outta the weeds and into becoming the visionary. So that’s what you’re gonna start outsourcing. Now, you’re not gonna outsource all those things at once. Take the very first thing on the list and find someone to do that one thing for you. One of my favorite things is bringing someone on the team and just starting them off small and slow.

(06:00):
Like, Hey, here’s task one. Let’s see how they do. Let’s see if they can handle that thing. If it’s a yes, you can scale them to task number two. And if they do great with that thing, you can scale them to task number three, or maybe they don’t do great with that thing. You’re gonna go hire someone else to do that thing for you, but start small.

(06:16):
And it just really is such a fun evolution of getting things slowly but surely off of your plate. And hopefully within 90 days to six months, you’ve offloaded every recurring task. Like that’s the dream truly. So that’s number one. And you said, am I ready? Yeah, of course. You’re ready if you recorded this episode for me asking me how and when to outsource, you’re ready to outsource, girl.

(06:38):
So now how? How do I do it? So we talked about why we would do it, what we would outsource and now how?How you do this is first you pray because every time I’ve prayed for the perfect person to come help me out, the Lord has handed in me that solution.

(06:53):
The next thing you’re gonna do is you’re gonna post in your favorite trusted communities. So, you know, you’re probably part of some of my courses. You are probably part of my student community. You’re probably part of our free female entrepreneurship community.

(07:07):
Liz, that would be a great place to post and just start asking for and Lydia has pinned to the top, the days that you can post these type of posts where you’re looking for help in your business, but post in there like, Hey, who in here is interested in just a super small VA side gig. I’m looking for two hours a week, and start there.

(07:30):
And the other place you can look is within your own community. My favorite place to recruit from is from my super fans. It’s from, y’all like, who wants to work with me? Let’s get it. Because they already know me. They know the content, they know my voice, they know my style. They have probably the same moral compass and value system that I do.

(07:47):
So I know they’re probably going to be a quicker learn and a better fit for the team. So that’s the first place. The other place you can look is on Fiverr. They have some great, definitely amazing virtual assistance, some podcast management peeps over there, and they’re super affordable. You are gonna have to test and trial a little bit more to find the right fit, but it’s definitely worth it and can save you some bucks.

(08:10):
Now here’s the third place of where you can find some help if the budget is an issue, it’s looking for some type of swap. And I’ve mentioned this before in a recent episode, but this is one of my favorite ways that I started out when I couldn’t afford to get help, but I desperately needed it in my business.

(08:25):
I started swapping people, Hey, can I throw you an hour of coaching? And you throw me some whatever X amount of hours of your time to help me out. And that was such a great way for me to get help in my business, but also give back in a way that wasn’t monetary. So think outside the box.

(08:41):
And then my fourth tip is if you have older kids or a nephew or a niece, or somebody wants to intern just to simply learn from you, that would be another way that you could add value to them in exchange for them supporting and helping you.

(08:55):
Now, last thing I wanna throw in here is you don’t only have to outsource things in your business. Like sometimes we look to our business as the first place of outsourcing when really sometimes our home needs some outsourcing. Sometimes our child, children, childcare needs some outsourcing. So another thing that I outsourced pretty quickly was having my home cleaned.

(09:15):
It was getting some help with my kiddos, as much as I could. Those types of things, freed me up to do a little bit more in my business. When I was in those really big growth phases, everything has a time and place, but I know that God will have the answer for you. And I just pray that this blessed you, my friend.

(09:31):
Now you guys listening to this wondering what the heck do I do? When in my business I’m super confused. I have a hundred things on the to-do list. Look, there are 13 simple steps that will take you from starting to fully completing an online business setup. And I have that for you in my complete business blueprint. So you guys can go and snag that free download at completebusinessblueprint.com.

(09:56):
Because what’s going to be shocking for you is the things you’re probably focusing on in your business are actually not the things you’re supposed to be focusing on right now. It’s really, truly about getting that podcast going, getting clarity, having an email address, and then moving on to monetization, the website and the funnels and the emails and the freebies and the clickity clickity clocks like guys, none of that actually moves the needle.

(10:24):
You need to have the foundational stuff done first. And I would actually recommend that you go back and you listen to my episode 368, The First Five Things You Must do First When Starting Your New Business, along with the complete business blueprint, those are gonna help you so much when it comes to what should I actually be doing right now.

(10:44):
And if you have a question for me, I want you to head to stefaniegass.com. Scroll down on that homepage and leave me a SpeakPipe question. I would love to feature you. I would love to answer your question live on the show. God bless you, friend. I’ll see you real soon.