Who's On Your Team?

How do you feel about delegation? Most of us are brought up to think that hiring someone to do something that you could do yourself is lazy, decadent, or only for the wealthy and famous. Is that how you feel? A few decades ago that thought process might have held a lot more weight.

These days, however, we are inundated with more demands on our time and attention than ever before. Caring for our homes, vehicles, and whole-selves (including our physical, mental, emotional. and spiritual needs) are just basic things that require lots of time and attention.

On top of our basic care, we have goals and ambitions that make our lives and those around us better. For many this could mean going back to school or taking classes for work, juggling demanding careers, enjoying fulfilling but time-intensive hobbies or side-projects, participating in preventative care like going to the gym, getting a massage, taking fitness classes, or working towards weight and health management efforts. Then we are have to consider the needs of others. I’ve seen clients who are balancing caregiving roles for young children and aging parents simultaneously, all while trying to spend quality time with friends and family. It can all make us feel crazy busy.

In Dr. Edward Hallowell’s book Crazy Busy he mentions delegation is key number seven of the 10 key principles to managing modern life. He states: “Delegate what you don’t like to do or are not good at if you possibly can. Your goal should be to be not independent, but rather effectively interdependent...For children and adults alike, learning how to be effectively interdependent is a major life skill.” How humbling! No man is an island—we need others to effectively manage our own lives.

With modern technology we can have our own “team” to help us do to things that we don’t like to do or are not good at. This frees up time so we can work on the projects and tasks we like and/or allows us to better use our time to do the things that take us less time or bring us more fulfillment.  

If we are around people who make us feel like we are “too big for our britches,” when we hire or ask for help, then it’s time to find new friends (just kiddin'). But feel free to use this as a good humble response: “I’ve found that to care better for myself and family, I should focus on the things that I do well and that are important to me, and delegate the things that allow me to be a better [wife, mother, husband, father, business owner, daughter, son, friend, person].”

So, who’s on your team to help you be the best you? Below I’ve included a list of folks and some links that can get the ball rolling to increase your delegation efforts.

Here are a few suggestions of people to add to your “team”:

• Dog walker/pet care professional
• Personal trainer
• Professional organizer
• Doctors
• Chef/food prep service
• Home cleaning service
• Wardrobe consultant
• In-home massage therapist
• Laundry service
• Hair care professional
• Virtual assistant

Realizing the areas in which you can afford to do some delegation can help to improve your relationships, quality of life, health, and well-being. What’s not to love about that? Simply take a look at what you’ve currently got on your plate and determine the areas in which you can start to offload. Trust me, you can always make more money, but you can’t make more time. Time spent adding quality to your life and to those whom you love. Your whole-self will thank you!

I’d love to hear from you?  What are some things you delegate to someone else? How has it benefited you?

Andrea Hancock is a professional organizer & productivity student, blogger, speaker, and educator that assists and empowers busy professionals, business owners and those experiencing major life transitions to create and maintain organizational systems that work for them personally.  Andrea is also founder of Dexterous Organizing, a results-oriented professional organizing company.  Book a free 15-minute Discovery Call to begin your journey to better productivity and more organizational prowess. Also visit our website at www.DexterousOrganizing.com or give us a call at (703) 606-8968.

How Being A Productive Employee Can Make A Not-So-Productive Business Owner

4 employee-minded behaviors to change to be a more productive (and sane) business owner

1. You respond to email within minutes...maybe even seconds.

I remember clearly the culture at my former employer.  Someone would send me an email and about 5-10 minutes later I'd get a phone call or they'd show up at my desk asking: "Did you get my email?" It drove me crazy and then like a rat in a lab, I soon became conditioned to respond to emails more often and quickly. So in the beginning of my business, I sat at the computer for HOURS responding to and acting on email.  But it was a rabbit hole of activity that made me feel busy but never productive. I'd end the day with no more clients or prospects then when I started the day and I felt overwhelmed with added things my emails added to my plate.

CHANGE: It took a while but my relationship with email has changed dramatically. I'm no longer pressured to have my inbox at zero everyday. When you're sitting at a desk all day it's easier to manage emails that flow into your inbox.  But as an entrepreneur, and especially one in the service industry, you aren't at your desk much.  You are (or should be) in activities that generate prospects (at vendor shows, out speaking, at networking events, building relationships over coffee), and/or actually working with clients or working on deliverable items. Often you can choose to set a automated response that alerts your clients and vendors that you will respond to their email within 24 hours. If they need to reach you immediately, then give them an alternative like a mobile number for calling or texting you.

Related article: http://www.lifehack.org/articles/productivity/how-many-times-a-day-should-you-check-your-email.html 

2. You use supposed down time to take care of personal matters.

Don't get me wrong, being able to have the flexibility in my schedule is one of the best things about being a business owner.  Recently I was sick and I was able to reschedule my whole day's activities to different times of the week so that I could spend time to recuperate. If I was an employee I would have had to jump through a lot more hoops in order to make the kind of changes I was able to make last minute. On the other hand, when you don't have a boss telling you where you should be during the week, the lines can be blurred about your responsibilities between home life and business.  It's easier to shrug off to do items that don't have a short-term effect on your business like networking and following up with clients to take care of personal matters like shopping and getting your oil changed. Since I hate grocery shopping during the weekend with our 9am-5pm counterparts, I still prefer to shop during the week.  But I try to let it be a specific day of the week and hours, so that I have some control over when I do it (like Wednesday from 8am-12pm) and make sure it's not crowding out time I should be doing something in my business.

CHANGE: Having time "buckets" in your calendar that feed into your daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly goals. Make these times just about non-negotiable. If a friend or family member wants to in crouch on that time, you can definitely say "I'm sorry I'll be working on ______" or "I have to work then, could we try for {random alternative date/time}?"  If you had a boss you wouldn't be able to get out of work and your friends and family would understand, it shouldn't really be that much different just because you work for yourself.

3. Your success is tied to money.

Now this one is LOADED.  What does it have to do with productivity you might ask? Well...if you are in business simply for the money you won't be in business for long. As an employee you usually have a yearly performance review.  If you've done over and beyond your job description you rightly and justly expect recognition for your hard work and effort.  Usually that recognition comes through in a form of a bonus or a raise.  Often times as a business owner you put in countless hours that you don't get paid for.  Invoicing, client follow up, and networking are all some of the various and many activities you must do to get results but you can't bill for.  Therefore your motivation has to come from another source, otherwise your incentive to get busy on those time-intensive fun-sucking activities will be just about zero. Another disadvantage to being motivated by money alone is in the first few years of most businesses the revenue you get is reinvested back into your company and you get to enjoy little of it.

CHANGE: There are tons to be proud about in your business besides your revenue and bottom line. Perhaps launching a new initiative, increase your prospect base, building a profitable relationship, or getting great feedback from your clients are all things that can help you put coals in your fire when money isn't flowing in or when you start to feel unrewarded for your hard efforts. Reflecting on your successes will keep you motivated to keep going and be productive when it seems like you're working for free.

4. You pride yourself in having an empty inbox at the end of the day.

In some of my past employment, I had more day than I had work. I prided myself on getting all my work done before the close of business.  When I started a business however, I soon realized that I often have more work than I have hours daysssssss. (Yes I meant to put all those s's). It stressed me the heck out too!  I soon realized that I was doing the workload of 4 positions and so I had to prioritize. I'm not going to lie and say that I've mastered it. But I will say that I've gotten a lot better at deciphering what's important, and when to call it the end of the day.

CHANGE: It's often easy to spend time in what you like to do and shrug off on the things you don't. Often the things you don't like to do are the things that actually generate the money. Making sales calls, generating content for your social media and blog, sending out a newsletter, and planning your marketing strategies and implementing them are sometimes difficult and sometimes icky.

Other related articles: https://experiencelife.com/article/how-to-beat-the-self-employment-blues/

Are you a business owner? Tell me in the comments below what you had to change (or realize you might need to change) from your employee-mindset to your business owner mindset?

Andrea Hancock is a professional organizer, blogger, and speaker that assists and empowers busy professionals and business owners create and maintain organizational systems that work for them personally.  Andrea is also founder of Dexterous Organizing, a results-oriented professional organizing company.  To receive free productivity and organizing tools, or to venture into a more organized home, office, and life, click "I'm ready to get started!" at www.DexterousOrganizing.com or by phone at (703) 606-8968.

Friday's Inspiration and Organization: Sweeten Your Office!

Did you know that Dexterous Organizing now represents Office Candy?  

Office Candy is the place for cute & fun office supplies, desk accessories, decorative and designer office products and cute school supplies for those creative individuals who want to "spice it up" a little. We've got it all: cute file folders, funny sticky notes and pink desk accessories for those that believe that just because it's practical doesn't mean it can't be cute. 

Go to OfficeCandy.com and use discount code: HANCOCK

Confessions of an Organizer: Why I (finally) love audible.com and my Kindle (again)

So I like to read for both personal pleasure and business and personal improvement.  I love, love, love the fact that many of the e-publications I download are with me when I have my mobile device(s) with me. So if I ever find myself with a few minutes to spare or waiting unexpectedly, I can get some reading done and turn otherwise wasted time twiddling my thumb into reading time.

In the last few months, just started getting back into audio books and began subscribing to Audible.com I griped at the monthly fee of $15/month, but realized that I did get through books much faster by adding a new way to digest a book. I found time to listen to books in my vehicle or when I'm doing mindless work like washing dishes or on the treadmill. But I soon noticed a challenge, as some books I have only on audio and some books I have only as a e-book or pdf.  Which means some books only got completed during certain activities.

Then one day I decided a book I was reading was getting left by the wayside so I decided that I would use one of my audible.com credits and finish it off by listening to it.  Then I found out an amazing discovery! Audible.com teamed up with Kindle a few years ago, (so I admit I'm slow on the uptake when it comes to keeping up with technological advances) and introduced a technology called Whispersync for Voice.  This allows you to read on your Kindle device or app, and listen to the same publication on audio and they sync to your current place.  That way you can work on one book whether you're listening to it the car or reading it at the doctor's office you can keep pace and complete the book faster.

Love it!

For a short clip of how the sync works:

Do you like to read? When do you find time to do so? Do you take advantage of technology to keep up on your reading?  What technologies do you use? We want to hear from you! Let us know in the comment section below.

Being Kind to Your Later Self: Going on Vacation & Leaving the Office Behind!

I think the busy professional falls into three categories when it comes to vacation:

1. The person who fully enjoys their vacation, doesn't check emails or voice mails (at least not often) but comes back to a barrage of messages and to-dos waiting to be done on top of the current flow of work in progress.
2. The person who takes work with them on vacation and it stresses themselves out and they don't fully relax.
3. The person scared to go on vacation because they feel like their job or their business is going to crumble in the wake of their absence.

Here are some suggestions from SMEAD® Organomic series that helps you balance life and work and enjoy your vacation:

What category do you fall in? What tip from Smead will you use to create a better plan for your vacation time this year?  Don't keep this to yourself, feel free to leave a comment in the section below.

Talk About Re-Purposing!

Wow you could set up shop right in the comfort of your living room and no one would know the wiser.