I haven’t yet figured out the recipe for seamless success, but inefficiency in business? I’ve got that one covered. I wrote last week’s post about juggling two businesses before the holidays—or the holi-daze, as I’m now calling it. Today, I’m struggling to wade through the to-do list for one business, let alone think about firing up two.
We had family and friends visiting Sydney for a week on the back end of a weeklong visit to New Zealand and a handful of days in the Aussie outback. I justified it by saying that with everything 2016 has in store for me, I should try to relax during these three weeks and “unplug” as much as possible. Digital detox has a nice ring to it, don’t you think?
The problem is that this is quite possibly the worst time for an Internet detox. (I know everyone says that, but it’s true.) And it wasn’t even as though I could reverse course—once I boarded the first plane, it was sayonara to any type of signal. Overwhelm and overload are the two dominant emotions coursing through my brain and body upon my return.
Thankfully, the consequences of unplugging have shocked me into realizing I need to make a change in operations. It’s no coincidence that some of these changes were spurred by my re-reading of Tim Ferriss’ The 4-Hour Workweek while I was away.
The last time I read this book was six years ago and I found Ferriss’ tone off-putting; I mistook his confidence for cockiness. His work philosophy was also so far outside of my capacity to implement at the time that it seemed an impossible task. There may have been some not-so-hidden resentment that he’d figured it all out and I was slaving away in a cubicle.
This time around, everything’s changed. I found it enlightening instead of annoying, useful rather than unattainable. Maybe that’s in part because I’ve been listening to Ferriss’ podcast for months, so he and his guests have become mentors of sorts. I also think my current situation—that is, doing everything on my own—has proved unsustainable and ineffective. During the time away, I missed posting a podcast for the first time since I started the show, for example. Changes in how I’m doing things need to be made.
To start, I’m outsourcing the editing of my podcast starting immediately. There’s a relatively small amount of editing that goes into the final show, but between removing the ‘ums,’ ‘ahs’ (and in my case, the ‘likes’), writing the show notes, grabbing pull quotes, and then mixing and rendering into the final master, I spend at least two hours—if not more—on each show. Hopefully, I can regain that time and come out with a better product by outsourcing to a pro.
I’m trying my hand at Upwork again following a really positive Skype call with Jeremy, Upwork’s Senior Manager of Customer Success. That title alone inspires a bit of confidence, but Jeremy also reached out after hearing about my snafu with the website and offered his assistance. A little handholding and basic commiseration on the customer service end is enough to convince me to give something a second shot, so here’s hoping this experience is better than the last. I’ll keep you updated on how it goes.
The other piece of Ferriss’ advice that I’m implementing is hiring a virtual assistant (VA). Though I’m unsure exactly about all of the tasks I’m planning to have a VA help me with, I want to hone my instructional skills in addition to getting comfortable with delegating larger tasks.
After reviewing some of the top services (I could have used a VA for that!), I decided to give MyTasker a go. They’re based in India but offered a three-hour trial before I had to commit to a monthly package. They also have pay-as-you-go arrangements, but prices are significantly higher than the plans; I’m starting with the lowest plan at 10 hours a month for $120.
To begin, I asked my new assistant to complete a fairly simple, though telling task: identify independent bookstores within a 20-mile radius of seven US cities (Austin, Portland, Seattle, Houston, Boulder, Denver and San Francisco), compile them into a list and include each store’s contact information. My new assistant completed the task and had it back in my hands within 48 hours or so. I was really impressed with the information he was able to provide, which came delivered in a well-organized Excel spreadsheet.
The next task I've assigned is getting my podcast queued up on Libsyn and cross posted onto my website, an ongoing weekly process that eats up at least an hour of my time. If all goes well, I’ll continue to delegate other small tasks, hopefully working up to more complex assignments in the coming months.
One thing’s for certain: this one woman band has just about exhausted herself trying to do it all, and it’s time to bring in some reinforcements. A major goal for 2016 is to put the right type of processes in place for continued growth and scalability in the future.
