I had a light bulb moment recently….well actually it was more of a two by four, but at any rate I think I finally got it.
I was sitting in my hotel room after teaching all day, I had my laptop open and all my files spread out ready to put into the computer my expenses and other bookkeeping tasks. I had spent almost two hours before leaving for my trip to set things up so that I could do this work while I was away and as I dug in to get the job done it hit me just how much I dislike this part of the business and how crazy I was being to not hire it out.
I had fallen for the trap, as so many self-employed do, of thinking that by doing it myself was saving money.
What I was doing was clogging up my time from revenue generating activities not to mention making me quite grumpy about the job. So even though I had set myself up with a glass of wine to get the job done, I was not having fun.
At that moment I realized what my friends have been telling me (for more years than I want to admit)….this was not the best use of my time.
I have all these ideas of where I want to go with my business, and finally it has sunk in that I can not possibly do all of the work, no matter how smart, or how hard I work.
I realized that I have been re-enforcing the belief that I have to work “hard” for my money. I finally got it that it is me that is holding things up by refusing to hire out where it is better use of my time.
Here I was out of town, and instead of enjoying my evening by connecting with friends in that area I was holed up in the hotel with paperwork.
I had gotten the math before…if I see x number of clients I could pay someone to do this for me, but I would try to see the clients and do the bookwork as well.
Somewhere along the way I have not been allowing myself to have time off that I simply enjoy. I have forever been chasing the illusive carrot. As a result, I have limited my business from growing beyond what I can do myself. As smart as I am, I can be rather stupid at times.
So where are you the weak link for your business and what are you willing to do this week to change it?
