Personal Grudges
Story time! Every once in a while I see a business-y advice post or email like this:
1. First, make a list of all the things you find tedious, frustrating, or annoying but that you have to do to run your business. Accounting, scheduling, writing all those blogs/emails/newsletters, learning how to use new technologies that you’ve been putting off forever. … All of the above are things that you can hire out to do. Why are you waiting on getting your time back, so that you can focus on the work you love ...and make more money?
2. It might be worth hiring someone to write for you vs spending money to learn a skill. You will end up spending about the same in terms of education (and time) as you would to outsource. I learned this the hard way. Outsourcing things that aren’t your strength will advance your business exponentially over trying to DIY.
I take these posts personally. I do! I file them in a folder I keep in Gmail called Personal Grudges.
OK, that last part isn't true. Listen, I could try to reel it in and say I really don’t take these posts personally. I just have a difference of opinion.
But… if you’re gonna lump in writing for your business with scheduling? … Oooooooweee! That burns! Right in the heart.
I GET that no one has time to do all the things in her business.
I GET that many of us microbusiness owners/consultants/entrepreneurs are working toward building a team that does all the support work so we can do nothing but deliver our genius and rake in all that $$.
But, you know what’s interesting about both of these advice posts?
Look at what happens if you replace “writing” with “selling”:
First, make a list of all the things you find tedious, frustrating, or annoying but that you have to do to run your business. Accounting, scheduling, SELLING, learning how to use new technologies that you’ve been putting off forever. … All of the above are things that you can hire a virtual assistant to do. Why are you waiting on getting your time back, so that you can focus on the work you love ...and make more money?
It might be worth hiring someone to SELL for you vs spending money to learn a skill. You will end up spending about the same in terms of education (and time) as you would to outsource. I learned this the hard way. Outsourcing things that aren’t your strength will advance your business exponentially over trying to DIY.
?
Most tiny-business owners can’t afford to leave selling to someone else. Literally.
Take my tiny business. If I were to lump in selling with a bunch of administrative tasks that I put off because selling is not billable client work, I would have a cash flow issue. A pipeline problem.
In plain English: I would have no income comin’ in.
(I know because I have ignored and or put off selling in the past, and that’s exactly what happened.)
Now, absolutely, if I were to grow my business to a point where I could hire a salesperson or team, I would! If you grow your business to that point, I hope you do consider hiring a sales person!
But if you haven’t outsourced selling yet, I would examine your desire to outsource writing for your business.
Writing content is NOT AN ADMINISTRATIVE TASK. It’s not a “to-do.”
Writing is marketing and marketing is part of the sales process: that thing that makes money come into your bank account. The sales process is not an administrative task.
It’s a place for you to demonstrate not just the fact that you can solve their problem with a bunch of tips and tricks and gimmicks, but the fact that you solve the problem with a system that you developed, a system unique to your business. Unique. That means a system that they can’t get anywhere else.
You cannot outsource the blood, sweat, and tears that goes into making your business vision a reality. Why would you want to outsource the showcasing of all that hard-won expertise and experience?
M
PS: Look at that! ? A segue! ... I offer just the kind of help you need to make a big impact with your writing and draw business opportunities and clients toward you. If you're ready to talk about your Big Idea, in only the way you can, I offer one-on-one coaching for that.
If you're not ready yet, a note that my book, Be About Something, is moving right along! (It's got a title!) It introduces you to my system for honing your career-defining Big Idea and articulating it to the world. I expect to share the book with you here in my newsletter in the second half of June. So look for that.