Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Speaker 1: Today's tip is to build your team. If you have
Speaker 1: a complicated life personally or professionally, you need people to
Speaker 1: help you. That is not a sign of weakness. It
Speaker 1: is a way to magnify your impact. I have spoken
Speaker 1: with a lot of small business owners over the years,
Speaker 1: and I have noticed that many people whose businesses are
Speaker 1: built around their own skills designing, writing, web design, marketing,
Speaker 1: reach an inflection point a few years in they are
Speaker 1: doing what they are doing successfully. There are also only
Speaker 1: twenty four hours in a day. The only way to
Speaker 1: keep growing without going crazy is to bring in other
Speaker 1: people who can take over some of the tasks, or
Speaker 1: who can bring insight into questions that you haven't quite
Speaker 1: figured out yet. In other words, you need to build
Speaker 1: your team. Bringing in other people has its own challenges,
Speaker 1: of course, but it's also necessary for having a bigger
Speaker 1: impact on the world and for achieving your goals. And
Speaker 1: so even if you are not a small business owner,
Speaker 1: it might be helpful to cultivate this mindset. Who else
Speaker 1: do I need on my team right now? Many great
Speaker 1: things cannot be done solo, or at least are going
Speaker 1: to be a lot harder than they need to be
Speaker 1: if you try to do them solo. We always have
Speaker 1: to be thinking about how to build our teams. So
Speaker 1: if you're feeling overwhelmed your business or in your personal life,
Speaker 1: try tracking your time. How much time do you spend
Speaker 1: on various tasks? Which tasks annoy you greatly, which seemed
Speaker 1: like they might be relatively easy to have someone else do.
Speaker 1: Maybe your life would be a lot more peaceful with
Speaker 1: one additional hour of child care per day so you
Speaker 1: didn't have to race out of work and could relax
Speaker 1: for a few minutes before plunging into the kid chaos.
Speaker 1: Or maybe you fantasize about having dinner on the table
Speaker 1: when you come home from work or emerge from your
Speaker 1: home office. Guess what someone could probably do that for
Speaker 1: you a few nights per week for not a huge
Speaker 1: amount of cash. Or maybe you feel like you spend
Speaker 1: your life picking up your house. You could hire someone
Speaker 1: to come clean for a few hours twice a week,
Speaker 1: and the amount of time you spend on this would
Speaker 1: fall dramatically. Or maybe you find you spend a lot
Speaker 1: of time on administrative matters. Could you hire a virtual
Speaker 1: assistant for a few hours per week. If you are
Speaker 1: in a traditional job and are feelings swamped, document how
Speaker 1: you spend your time. I had one highly specialized physician
Speaker 1: do this exercise for me a few years ago, and
Speaker 1: she found that she was spending a ridiculous amount of
Speaker 1: time on paperwork. No one was benefiting from that. She
Speaker 1: took this data to her practice manager, who immediately hired
Speaker 1: her another assistant. She paid that person's salary by doing
Speaker 1: a few more procedures each week. Easy, and if you
Speaker 1: are running a business, really think through what might help.
Speaker 1: If you'd asked me. Originally, I would have thought that
Speaker 1: it was administrative stuff that I needed help with, But
Speaker 1: then I realized that some routine writing I did probably
Speaker 1: did not need to happen quite with as much time
Speaker 1: as it was taking. Someone can write a draft and
Speaker 1: then I can edit brilliant. If you're thinking of growing
Speaker 1: your team and you have a community, one of the
Speaker 1: best things you can do is just announce this to
Speaker 1: your fans. They already are familiar with your business and
Speaker 1: can help refer people to you. Don't feel the need
Speaker 1: to post specific job descriptions. People who are familiar with
Speaker 1: what you do will think about it and come up
Speaker 1: with great ideas that you might not have thought of.
Speaker 1: If you find someone amazing through this process but you're
Speaker 1: not sure exactly what you'll do with him or her,
Speaker 1: I'd encourage you to try this person out for a
Speaker 1: small project or two. Most likely, he or she will
Speaker 1: figure out a way to propose things that add enough
Speaker 1: value to your life to justify the expense. That is
Speaker 1: what good team members do. In any case, let's not
Speaker 1: harbor delusions that we can do everything ourselves. No CEO
Speaker 1: of a big company feels bad because he or she
Speaker 1: has so many employees. That's how people magnify what they
Speaker 1: can do. Same with the rest of us. Life is
Speaker 1: a team sport, So figure out who you need on
Speaker 1: your team and start figuring out how you can grow
Speaker 1: the team. You'll start getting a lot more done in
Speaker 1: the meantime. This is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's
Speaker 1: to making the most of our time. Hey, everybody, I'd
Speaker 1: love to hear from you. You can send me your tips,
Speaker 1: your questions, or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter,
Speaker 1: Facebook and Instagram at Before Breakfast Pod. That's b E.
Speaker 1: The number four then Breakfast p o D. You can
Speaker 1: also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast podcast at
Speaker 1: iHeartMedia dot com that before Breakfast is spelled out with
Speaker 1: all the letters. Thanks so much, I look forward to
Speaker 1: staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a production of I
Speaker 1: heart Radio. For more podcasts from I heart Radio, visit
Speaker 1: the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you
Speaker 1: listen to your favorite shows.