BIZ: chapter 8

VIDEO #1

LESSON 1: play to your strengths

Many small business owners refer to their vast collection of 'hats' when they are describing the many roles they have within the daily dealings of their business. From marketing to accounting to personnel management, juggling tasks and swapping ‘hats’ is exactly what many of us must do throughout every day as entrepreneurs. 

I have found that a clear assessment of your business skills up front can greatly assist in focusing your attention on the work that matches your strengths, and highlighting the tasks that do not necessarily come easy to you as opportunities to hire others for assistance.

EXERCISE

strength or challenge

Below is a broad list of many of the responsibilities that can and most likely will fall on your shoulders as a fitness entrepreneur. Using this list of roles, rate each item as a strength or challenge for you and your current skill set:

BUSINESS
S   C     CREATING A VISION AND MAINTAINING FOCUS
S   C     CREATIVE PLANNING FUTURE BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT
S   C     TIME MANAGEMENT AND DEADLINE ACHIEVEMENT
S   C     ORGANIZATION + CREATING SYSTEMS
        S   C     INTAKE FORMS
        S   C     24 HOUR RESPONSE TIME
        S   C     RECOGNIZING CLIENT BIRTHDAYS, ANNIVERSARIES, MILESTONES
S   C     FINANCIAL TRACKING + ACCOUNTING

MARKETING
S   C     BRANDING
S   C     CREATIVE DESIGN
       S   C     GRAPHICS
       S   C     CONTENT LAYOUT
S   C     WEBSITE DESIGN
S   C     SOCIAL MEDIA
S   C     PHOTOGRAPHY + VIDEO SKILLS
S   C     WRITING CONTENT
       S   C     BLOGS
       S   C     SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS
       S   C     NEWSLETTERS
S   C     NETWORKING
S   C     SALES

PERSONAL
S   C     RESILIENCE + GRIT
S   C     PROBLEM SOLVING
S   C     PATIENCE
S   C     CONTINUING EDUCATION
S   C     SELF REFLECTION
S   C     OPEN MINDED
S   C     CONNECTIVITY + EMOTIONAL QUOTIENT

VIDEO #2

LESSON 2:  Tackle vs delegate

How is that hat collection looking now?  There are several ways that entrepreneurs go about determining how to best handle the overwhelming list of roles and responsibilities that fall within our realm. Consider the following opinions:

1. KNOW HOW TO DO IT ALL, BUT DON’T DO IT ALL!

This philosophy follows the idea that the best entrepreneurs are proficient in a majority of the tasks that fall within their roles. Then using this understanding of each role, they are able to make an intelligent decision about their abilities to complete the work vs seeking assistance. When they make the decision to hire out for some tasks, this skilled boss is then able to make better decisions about who to hire, how best to manage their work and how to determine adequate schedules for work completion.

2. COMPARE PAY RATES AND HOURS WORKED

This theory is an easy comparison of individual pay rates and hours needed for completion. Start by considering your average pay rate for your services (i.e. $100 / hour for a 60 min personal training session). Then for each task in front of you, consider how many hours it would take for you to complete the task vs. hiring an expert to complete the work. If you tried to build your own website, you could definitely get the job done, but it would probably take you twice as many hours as a professional website programmer. So in the end, you will more likely to save money by hiring someone to build that website for you. Plus, the pro’s website will most definitely look better than your website. Which leads us to our third note...

3. THIS IS A JOB FOR THE EXPERTS

As a business owner, every single element of your business represents your brand, which should set the bar and exceed customer expectations in every way! So whenever possible, especially for the important projects (i.e. your website), go for the expert assistance and advice. Websites such as Fiverr and Upwork are great places to search for virtual assistants to hire. At the same time, be a well read researcher that learns how to take care of the small things (i.e. making website updates) in order to save you money in the long run.

EXERCISE

Build a strong team

Using your exercise results above, complete the following exercises:

1. Considering the BUSINESS and MARKETING categories, make a list of roles where you will need some assistance with getting your business up and running.

2. Prioritize this list by immediate needs and using your current network, client roster, and knowledge of experts, create a list of individuals to reach out to for assistance with these roles.

3. Based on your scores in the PERSONAL category, create a list of mentors and coaches you need in your business life for improving your general knowledge about each of these tasks.