Do you suck at this entrepreneurial skill?
One very important skill I am learning to better develop in myself as an entrepreneur is defining my strengths and weaknesses. This has been one of the hardest skills for me to learn, and may be for some of you as well. Defining your strengths typically is pretty easy. There are many things I can do, almost effortlessly. And it is these things that I typically enjoy doing very much, as they are very rewarding ad seem almost second nature. But, defining my weaknesses is quite a bit harder I must admit.
To define your weaknesses, you really have to take a look at all the tasks you manage, and see which tasks you rip right through and then take the time to observe which tasks seem to stump you. I’ve noticed certain tasks that take me longer to do, and require more effort, I will sometimes procrastinate on them. Or, I will almost without thinking about it, put those tasks to the side and make them less of a priority because they take me more time to do. Do you find yourself doing this with certain tasks in your business? If you sit back and think about it I am sure you probably can find a few things that once you really analyze them, you will realize you’re not so great at them. And that is ok!
Find areas of improvement
Take a look at all the things you do and define your weak point(s). It is ok, nobody is judging you. Once you have found your weak point(s), my recommendation to you is find someone who does that same task, and that is naturally their strong point. By finding that person and utilizing their “second-nature” skills, you will increase the speed of everything you do, the big picture! And as we all know money is attracted to speed.
This may be obvious, but if there is a task that you spend 4 hours a month doing, but it is a painstaking 4 hours for you, then wouldn’t it be amazing for you to find someone who can do that same amount of work in one hour because they have that effortless talent performing that task? Now, if you put a dollar value on your time, because time is money, what would your hourly rate be? Let’s say you deem your worth $50 an hour.
If you deem your time worth $50 an hour, that’s $200 a month you’re spending while working on that task. And that turns into $2400 over the course of a year. $2400 is a decent chunk of change in my checkbook. But if you can find someone who can do that same task which takes you 4 hours, but they can do it in one hour a month. That would most likely be beneficial to you. As you now have 4 hours more to do the more rewarding tasks, make that $200 instead of losing it. And remember, that’s 4 hours ($200) a month, 48 hours ($2400) a year.
Now, obviously you may be up 48 hours of more profitable time spent, but you will have to make an investment to gain that 6 full days of extra time per year. If you can find somebody who can do that 4 hours of work, in 1 hour and their rate is also $50 an hour, then you are very much ahead of the game, right? You are getting much more work done that has a better return for you in your 48 hours a year. And as far as your investment in the outsourced work, you are investing in someone who crushes the work they do, much faster than you do, and because they are so good at it, the R.O.I on that task should be great! Not to mention instead of spending $2400 on doing the work yourself, you only spent $600! Better results at a quarter of the cost!
So what is the obvious lesson here. Don’t be a sucker losing valuable time doing something you don’t excel at. Be a money saving ninja! Start saving money, while making more money and having better results to boot! Pay someone else who does a task seemingly second nature at a respectable rate, as you will have more time to focus on the “bigger fish to fry” tasks that will reap more rewards on your time every week month and year! Win-win.
Putting this exercise into action
If you want, make this a real actionable tasks. Make a note of two or three things that you feel you suck at. Right now. It’s okay, you don’t have to share it with anyone. But it will give you insights as to what projects would be better suited to hand off to someone you trust, and who you are sure can do a great job in less time. We all have the same amount of hours in a week, maximize your efficiency and profits are sure to follow!
