I am the first to admit that I’m a control freak. I need to know what is happening with my business at all times and I’m pretty sure that no one will do as good of a job that I will. In January I found myself ready to pull my hair out because I had too many pots on the stove and some were starting to boil over.As freelancers, I think we feel that need to take on the world singlehandedly and at some point something’s gotta give.
With great hesitation, I made some smart yet difficult decisions about my business. I needed help.
- Someone other than me needed to take over administrative tasks – billing, proposal follow-up and research to name a few.
- I needed to prioritize project tasks and partner with a few specialists to work on tasks that were not my forte instead of struggling through them.
- I needed to partner with a couple of freelancers that could take on smaller tasks that I found myself doing often – like HTML coding and minor website maintenance.
- I needed to do more marketing and sales generation and less thinking about it.
- I needed to grow my business and I couldn’t do that alone.
These items may be common sense and seemingly easy to do. But not for me. Bringing on a support staff meant letting go of some of the tasks that I was attached to; tasks that I didn’t necessarily enjoy but felt obligated to carry out. In March I took my first step and hired a part-time personal assistant to take on much of the administrative work. Before she started, I had to warn her that I would have a problem giving things up…and I did. She’s done a great job of reminding me when I need to take a step back, taking on tasks as she sees fit and generally getting things done so I could work with clients. Perfect. I also teamed up with a couple of ladies who are total professionals and experts in their fields and could offer support in areas that were not my strengths.
There is still work to be done. I still need to hire a couple of folks to help with site maintenance and HTML coding. But I am doing a better job at getting my face out into the local community in order to land local clients which is my goal. I still haven’t given my assistant all of the tasks that I should, but I am learning to let go little by little and feeling better about it.
My new motto is “You have to let go to grow.” and that’s what I’m trying to do. Putting my faith in others has not only helped me with my business but has caused me to realize that a little help can go a long way.
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