Building Your Team to Support Your Lifestyle Business

If you’re anything like me, one of your core values is having more time off to be with the ones you love.

But the challenge with being a solo entrepreneur is you often do everything for yourself.

Here’s the main problem with that, it’s almost impossible to create a profitable freedom based business if you’re the bottle neck in your business.

How do I know? I’ve been there and so have many of my clients.

Take Kathy for example, she set up her business so she could work when the kids were in school. She figured that she’d have about 25 hours a week to grow her business. This way when the kids and her family were home she’d completely devote herself to being with them and having time for everything else she wanted to do.

On paper the plan seemed good, she had plenty of time to do what she needed in order to grow her business. The reality was, that in only two months she barely moved her business forward.

Frustrated and feeling like a failure, she came to me. “Jeannie, what am I doing wrong? Why do I feel like I’m not getting anything done and I’m not growing my business”.

“Kathy”, I said, “You’re doing everything yourself!”

After looking over her “Freedom Based Business Plan” I quickly noticed that there was no way she could accomplish everything she wanted to do in the time she had all by herself.

So together I helped her determine how to get the support she needed so she could make her lifestyle business grow.

Here are a few things she did (that you can apply to your business too):

Step 1: Create Your Work Schedule

If you want a lifestyle business that means you don’t work all the time, then you need to create a schedule of what you will do in the time you have.

Step 2: Sales, Networking, Speaking, Coaching/Consulting/Servicing and Business Development Cannot Be Outsourced

There are some activities that should not be outsourced when you are a solopreneur. All of the above must be handled by you. If any of these are uncomfortable to you then you will require some business development in these areas.

Step 3: Identify What Can Be Done Faster By Someone Else

I do not even pretend to be masterful at technology. I know my limits and believe you should too. Only hang on to what you know you can do easily and quickly without breaking a sweat. (Eventually I will likely be outsourced too)

Step 4: Create a Team to Support You in the Areas of Business You Most Need Help With

This can be a graphic designer, a web designer, a virtual assistant, content manager, Facebook Ads expert. Depending on what you’re doing for marketing you can find people to create efficiencies for you or completely take things off your plate.

Step 5: Consider the Investment In Your Team as a Necessary Evil

Even though you may not have the money coming in as you’d like, consider that if you were to pass off 20 hours of your work to someone who could do the same work in 3 hours, how much money could you make in the hours you’ve just gained? This shift in thinking will allow you to create the team you need.

Step 6: Start With a Virtual Assistant

Even if it means you have someone work with you 3 hours a month, you will soon learn the idea behind delegation and automation. This individual may be able to start creating efficiencies to make growing your business that much easier.

Most importantly you will begin to set better boundaries. The more you have set up behind the scenes the more time you will have for yourself and those you love.

I’d love to hear, what’s one thing you’re doing that you know you’re not good at that someone else should do? Why do you still do it? Let me know in the comments below.

And if you’re interested in learning how to chart your course to a business with more freedom and flexibility, then book your ticket to Talk & Profit LIVE! here.