How To Delegate To Elevate Your Business

I’ve had a little bit of space to think over the past couple of long weekends about work and life and how I want to create something really different in my business.

I hope that you guys have had a chance to have some space with your families and otherwise, as well. That space creates an opportunity for creative thinking to come through. Creative thinking comes from past experiences and then melds into something new.

Feeling overwhelmed and stuck

One of the biggest things that I see a lot with practitioners is a sense of overwhelm and of feeling like, “I’m not getting anywhere.  Why aren’t the clients getting in the door? Why isn’t my thing selling?”

When I see this, I see a heaviness that comes with that. That feeling of overwhelm is like having weights holding us down.

We’re out there trying to be the face of our business and the face of health and well-being and welcoming. But inside, we feel heavy with all of the things we’re doing that may or may not be working, and the timeframe that we made up in our minds that’s not based on any facts.

That feeling of stuckness and heaviness is not the energy that we want to be bringing to somebody who potentially wants to change the health and wellbeing.  They are focusing on improving life for themselves and their families.  Meanwhile, we’re kind of hanging on and trying to show up for them whilst worrying about all of the things behind the scenes.

Is your bandwidth overloaded?

There were quite a few posts in the Hub this week asking:

• How do I get more clients?
• Why isn’t my marketing working?
• What am I doing wrong when I’m talking to people?
• Maybe I haven’t done enough. . .
• I have to look after all my bookkeeping as well, does anyone know bookkeeping?
• What happens if I want to run an e-course?
• What is MailChimp, anyway?

It’s like having a limited amount of bandwidth. I know that’s a bit of a cliche term but that is what it’s like – having the internet trying to push all of this information through a bandwidth.

In my household, when all the kids get online, there isn’t enough bandwidth for everybody, so everything slows down. One of them is streaming Netflix while other ones are streaming a game.  I want to watch my TEDx talk, the hubby’s catching up on business stuff. And ugh – it just goes so slow because they’re filling up the bandwidth with all these things!

Who here has a background in finance?  About 30% of practitioners actually do have a background in finance or bookkeeping but many of us don’t have any kind of qualification in finance or bookkeeping.  Many of us don’t have a qualification in marketing or in so many of the other things that we want to be an expert in. And that’s the reason we’re not getting clients.

How much do you have on your plate?

Here is a challenge for you, if you’re up for it.

I want you to, in 15-minute increments, write down what you’re doing all day:

• what emails are you answering?
• how are you answering them?
• what’s happening on your calendar?
• what are you doing for your social media?
• how long are you taking to set up those posts on social media?
• have you been writing a blog post and how long has that been taking you?
• are you learning new tools for marketing, website design, development, or something like that?

What you’ll start to notice is all of these things can be done by other people. Many of these things can be done by others, even maybe within your own family.  My kids are actually way better at some of this stuff than I am! The thing that YOU are wholly and solely qualified in, better than anybody else, is helping people with your particular modalities and being there as the healer that you are.

The interesting thing is that nobody else can do that for you. But all of these other things?  Somebody else is out there and has the capacity to do it.

Be the professional healer that you are

I know what you’re thinking – “But I can’t afford that! I don’t have any clients coming in!”

The thing is, with all of this weight that we have, with all of the things that we need to do, you can’t afford NOT to let go of that and elevate yourself to being the professional healer that you are. Otherwise, you’re down here asking these people to come in when you’re in survival mode in a really different space.

So if you’re up for it, the challenge this week is to write down everything that you’re doing in a 24 hour period.

Maybe you’re bringing in stock and putting the stock on the shelves. Or maybe you’re putting prices on, opening up your clinic or closing – there’s a process that you’re using for each of these things.

Delegation creates elevation

Eventually, we’ll be able to delegate all of these things. And delegation creates elevation.

Reminder – your true calling is as a healer.  This is what you know you were made to do.  That’s why you are in the healing profession in the first place.

It’s unfortunate that all of these delegations either take time, effort, energy, or money to delegate.  But once they are slowly but surely delegated, you then have the opportunity to elevate how you show up for people. Then they will receive an amazing experience with you that they’re going to share with everyone!  Which means more money will come in so you can delegate more.

How to audit your activities

Take stock and do an audit of everything you do. Write everything down – email management, writing up treatment plans, receiving treatment plans back by email, booking people from phone calls and personal message – everything.  Literally, write it all down.

Then, go through and highlight each item with one of three different colours:

• Green – Things that only you can do. Nobody else can do it the same way as you can. For instance, writing the treatment protocol for a particular client.  That needs to be you.
• Orange – These are the things that you can delegate eventually but right now you want to keep doing them. They are things you can do but there might be someone better or a more efficient way.  For instance, writing a nutritional plan. Nutritional plans can be done by things like ThatCleanLife software or similar. There are some amazing practitioners who do specifically do that for clients, as well.
• Red – Red items are the things that stop you in your tracks.  They take you ages to do them. The emails you started but set aside and don’t get back to until months down the track.  Those red ones need to be addressed because there is somebody on the planet who can do this a million times better than you. They actually really enjoy it! It’s like their gift and their talent.  I am NOT good with details. Ask me more than three questions in an email and I will literally shut down. But I’ve got a VA who loves details and answering questions. Even the smallest of questions, she’s there giving huge amounts of information.

Recognise what you’re amazing at

It’s a really cool thing for you – even before you’re ready – to recognise the things that you are amazing at. Circle those in green.

The things that somebody else could do but you kind of want to do it or you think you’re better at it than somebody else would be, so you may as well do it (trust me, they change eventually), mark them in orange.

And the reds – you’re either not getting to it at all, you’re putting it off, or it’s costing you money. It might be:

• that shoe box of receipts hidden somewhere
• the tax from the last three years that you haven’t done
• social media that you really wanted to do
• a newsletter that you really need to get out

Those are the red ones. It’s time to actually stop and acknowledge that they exist. And the next step is that it’s very likely you could pay somebody $10 or $20 an hour as a VA (a virtual assistant) to actually get those things done for you.  $10 an hour are usually overseas assistants and $20 to $50 dollars an hour is usually one within our country that would do it for you.

Delegate to elevate

When you delegate, let’s say, four things to a VA, you can use that freed up time to show up in the best way you can for a potential client. Learn to let go of the things that weigh you down, that stop you from going to networking events because you think you’ve got to do all the things half-well.

You know that it takes twice as much time for you to do them. If you delegate them instead, it frees up time for you to see a client for $120 dollars an hour.  Somebody else in that same space of time is doing the job that would have taken you six hours to do, and they’re doing it for $20.

So you are elevating the way that you show up. You’re elevating your level of professionalism and that elevates the way that you are able to do your job. Which, in turn, elevates the amount of money that’s coming in.  You can pay a person to do the things that they’re amazing at and you can do the things that you’re amazing at.

The more efficient we are, the closer we get to being elevated in the place and space that we want to be in.

The second thing that I ever delegated was housework.  The very first thing I delegated was to a bookkeeper.

At that time, I didn’t know what a bookkeeper was. I didn’t know how they differed from an accountant. I just knew that for three years I was collecting loads and loads of unopened envelopes of bills and things. They all got paid eventually because it was all in my head how much I owed. But I had piles of unopened bills, receipts, and all sorts of things in a box that turn into a filing cabinet. I just kept putting it off.

I didn’t think I could afford it but as soon as I delegated that to a bookkeeper, I got money back. My business got sorted and I started to get money back quarterly because I had registered for GST and I hadn’t been making the same amount of money but I’d been investing it in my business.

So this flow started happening and I was able to elevate and do the things I needed to do that I knew I’d do well.  Because I had delegated the bookkeeping.

Think outside the office

It’s not always about business work, either.  The second biggest thing I delegated was the housework. Handing over once a week to a cleaner to do something that made me show up in a way that was very different to before absolutely was worth it.  Otherwise, it was in the back of my mind giving me excuses for procrastinating. It was doing a whole bunch of other stuff behind the scenes that wasn’t allowing me to fully show up as me and when I did and I was able to delegate that?  Game-changer.

So if you recognise that housework is a red light for you, you can totally afford $30 an hour one hour a week or two hours a fortnight for a cleaner to clean the space. Because the space around you is just a reflection of what’s going on inside you. If somebody else can do that for you and you have a clear space to create from, it creates a whole different feeling about how you show up. That sense of overwhelm and dread and that other stuff that happens in the background isn’t there anymore.

There are virtual assistants all over the place and they are usually extraordinary women who work from home. They tend to be extraordinarily organised and they can do amazing work.  I guarantee you, they can do your work much more quickly and efficiently than you think you can do it. And another about delegating – you’re creating jobs for other people. You’re creating an environment for somebody else’s family to thrive in so that you can thrive as well.

Tips on hiring a Virtual Assistant

One tip on getting a VA is to interview them and make sure that they are in alignment with you. Make sure that you’re on the same kind of wavelength, first. Then show them your red, orange, and green list.

It’s really hard to get a VA on board unless they know what they need to do. So be as clear as you can be with what you’re currently doing that isn’t getting done and they will tell you what they can take over for you, if they don’t have experience but are willing to learn, or if that’s just not their thing but they know someone who can do it.

So if you’re considering getting a VA definitely, start interviewing.

I found some of my VAs on Instagram, in Facebook groups, or via referrals.  You can use a VA for a specific project like getting your my newsletters set up or setting up MailChimp or Xero properly. Or you can have ongoing help with a monthly retainer. You pay for a certain amount of hours per month and they’ll keep you updated on how many hours they’ve used and how much time they have left for other projects you might have.

Everybody’s got different experience with different programs so you have to find that person that’s going to vibe with you. It’s very similar to how you advise your clients to try and find the therapist the natural therapist that vibes with them. You’re going to do the same thing with your team members.

The delegation process

1. The first step in the process is to recognise what’s in your green zone, your orange zone, and your red zone.
2. Find somebody to match the red zone that feels like a stretch, to begin with.  I know, you think you can’t afford it but if it’s coming to mind, I guarantee that as soon as you delegate it, you will feel so relieved.  If you are that close to needing that person, you may as well take the leap now.  Because that will free up so much bandwidth for you to elevate to the way that you need to be to have the flow in your business.

Having a team member on board that you can delegate to that feels in alignment elevates you and elevates them in their family as well.

I hope this has been beneficial! My challenge to you is to take the action. Just like with all of our other training, the most important bit is the action.

Don’t just think that it sounds like a really good idea. Actually take the action.

Write down in 15-minute increments what you do in your day. Identify which parts of what you’re doing or putting off could be delegated. If you are already noticing things you can delegate and you’ve got a spare $20 a week, you have the potential to make a $120 or even more. And it’s so worth it.  You’ll have created flow in your life.

If this has been useful to you or would be to another practitioner that you can think of who needs to hear it, please share! If you don’t want to miss anything, make sure to join us in the Hub.  We do training every Thursday. Or, you might want to subscribe to my YouTube channel.  I can’t wait to hear your delegating stories and how much that freed up for you to elevate in the space and the place that you are as a healer on this planet!