Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning,
Speaker 1: This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
Speaker 1: tip is that when you outsource, you're still a resource.
Speaker 1: You can't check something entirely off your list. Even if
Speaker 1: you hire someone else to do it, you still have
Speaker 1: to do a little management and supervision. So it's best
Speaker 1: to focus on how you are saving ninety percent of
Speaker 1: the time you would have spent on a task, rather
Speaker 1: than get frustrated about the ten percent that likely won't
Speaker 1: go away. Longtime listeners know that I advocate outsourcing lots
Speaker 1: of things. Often a manageable amount of money can free
Speaker 1: up a good bit of time. Than spending your weekends
Speaker 1: cleaning or running errands, you can spend them hanging out
Speaker 1: with your family at work rather than handling every detail.
Speaker 1: You hire a team to specialize, and you provide direction.
Speaker 1: Even for folks who work for themselves, having an in
Speaker 1: person or virtual assistant can be quite helpful. Here's the thing, though,
Speaker 1: When you outsource a task that would otherwise fall to
Speaker 1: you and that actually needs to get done, you won't
Speaker 1: be able to let it go completely. You will need
Speaker 1: to have some level of involvement it will just be
Speaker 1: way less involvement than when you are handling the task directly.
Speaker 1: People are much happier when they focus on the reduction
Speaker 1: rather than the small amount of lingering mental load. So,
Speaker 1: for instance, you might like to imagine that hoving house
Speaker 1: cleaners come every week means that you won't ever have
Speaker 1: to spend time cleaning your house again, but that is
Speaker 1: not entirely true. At the beginning, you will need to
Speaker 1: show the cleaners around the house and let them know
Speaker 1: how you like things. Some weeks you might need to
Speaker 1: ask for some area to get extra attention, really spiffing
Speaker 1: up the guest room, for instance, Because company is coming,
Speaker 1: you'll probably wind up picking up things before the cleaners come,
Speaker 1: so anything small and important does an inadvertently get put
Speaker 1: in the wrong spot. You will need to tell the
Speaker 1: cleaners when you are canceling a week because you are
Speaker 1: on vacation or moving the time because you're having a
Speaker 1: party at the exact moment the cleaners usually come. If
Speaker 1: you get the same team every week, my guess is
Speaker 1: you will want to build a relationship with these people
Speaker 1: to the extent that it is possible, so they will
Speaker 1: tell you if they see anything out of the ordinary.
Speaker 1: Now you know about that's leak in the bathroom a
Speaker 1: week earlier than you would have. And of course, if
Speaker 1: the cleaners are cleaning your kitchen on Wednesday, that really
Speaker 1: just doesn't do your dishes on Saturday. So even if
Speaker 1: your house cleaners do almost everything, you can't check house
Speaker 1: cleaning off your list completely. You will be a lot
Speaker 1: less annoyed by the little things you have to do
Speaker 1: when you remember that fact. Likewise, as convenient as grocery
Speaker 1: delivery can be, someone still has to order and put
Speaker 1: away the groceries. You might also want to check your
Speaker 1: bags to ensure you received what you ordered. That means
Speaker 1: fewer unpleasant surprises when it's time to cook dinner. And
Speaker 1: if you're hiring a full time staff member at work,
Speaker 1: you probably can't just hand this person a job description
Speaker 1: and assume everything listed will get done exactly as you
Speaker 1: want without you lifting a finger. If you hire a
Speaker 1: direct report to support your work and take on some
Speaker 1: things you've done yourself, you still need to be a resource.
Speaker 1: You may not have to perform the work yourself anymore,
Speaker 1: but supervising and supporting your direct reports does require time
Speaker 1: and attention. Nothing else you want to keep these people happy.
Speaker 1: This concept of still needing to do some work, even
Speaker 1: if you have offloaded a lot even comes into play
Speaker 1: with the idea of passive income. You probably can't get
Speaker 1: any category of work in your life down to absolute zero.
Speaker 1: I maintain that there aren't a whole lot of truly
Speaker 1: passive forms of income out there. I get royalty checks
Speaker 1: from books I wrote fifteen years ago, but that is
Speaker 1: because I am still out here in the world talking
Speaker 1: about time management all the time. Even dividends and interest
Speaker 1: require bookkeeping and making sure your accountant has the right forms.
Speaker 1: Most forms of so called passive income require way more
Speaker 1: work than that. If you have a rental property, even
Speaker 1: if you use a property management company, you will need
Speaker 1: to make sure that they get paid, and you'll need
Speaker 1: to check in occasionally to see that they are doing
Speaker 1: a good job. If you've got a website where people
Speaker 1: can pay for virtual courses, even if you've already made
Speaker 1: the courses, you'll need to check that the websitet is
Speaker 1: still working as it's supposed to, And if the search
Speaker 1: engines change their algorithms, you will need to update things too.
Speaker 1: So it goes If you are hoping to spend one
Speaker 1: hundred percent of your hours on leisure. This would all
Speaker 1: be really annoying, but when you recognize that the reduction
Speaker 1: in time is large, you can choose to focus on that.
Speaker 1: There is no free lunch. There are very few instances
Speaker 1: in life where you can get something done and have
Speaker 1: nothing required of you. So when a little bit is
Speaker 1: required of you and a lot is done by someone else,
Speaker 1: best not to resent the little you have to do.
Speaker 1: If you have made wise choices and train people well,
Speaker 1: it probably will be just a little after a while,
Speaker 1: which is a lovely thing. Indeed, what have you outsourced successfully?
Speaker 1: You can let me know at Laura at Laura vandercam
Speaker 1: dot com. In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening,
Speaker 1: and here's to making the most of our time. Thanks
Speaker 1: for listening to Before Breakfast. If you've got questions, ideas,
Speaker 1: or feedback, you can reach me at Laura at Laura
Speaker 1: Vancam dot com. Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartMedia.
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