Living the Dream

The following is a guest post from Shannon Davis of The Empire Strategist

You started your own business to live the dream. Getting sales notifications while you sip cosmos by the pool, working whenever you want, vacationing wherever you want. You could sleep in, roll out of bed, do what you love in your jammies, and make tons of money doing it, right?

Then the reality of running a successful online business set in. There’s posts to write, meetings to schedule, emails to answer, a dozen tiny admin tasks that never seem to get done, and don’t even bring up the marketing. You spend so much time on the mundane tasks that are necessary to keep your biz running that you forget why it is you started your biz in the first place.

That shit’s gotta stop. You’re incredible at what you do. You need to be focusing your energy on what you love and are the best at instead of random tiny tasks that others can handle for you. You need to live the dream.

How to Make Money While Sipping Cosmos?

In Short, Delegate

I know, I know, you’re a solopreneur, but that does not mean that every single part of your biz needs to be done solo! That may have worked when you were just starting out, but you’re a pro now. You need a professional and passionate team working with you behind the scenes to keep everything running smoothly. If you’ve been doing everything yourself, there’s no way that you’re doing all of it well. No one person can do the work of a whole team, and you’ll burn out quick. Don’t let that happen! But how do you delegate?

Know Your Strengths (And Weaknesses)

Obviously you’re fabulous. That’s why you’re so crazy successful. That said, there’s some things that you’re naturally better at than others. If you’re a designer extraordinaire, focus on creating awesome designs for your clients. Leave the admin-y stuff to a VA. If your words flow naturally but creating a graphic for your blog post takes you forever, hand that task over to someone else. Make sure you’re spending your creative energy wisely on tasks that are unique to you. Let someone else handle the rest.

Do What You Love

When you first start a business, you spend a lot of time doing work that you hate so that you can make a living doing work that you love. Now? You’re past that newbie phase where you have to wear fifteen hats and do everything in your biz just to make rent. You own this biz, you’re making money, and you should only spend your valuable time doing shit you absolutely love. Even if you can write a decent sales page, if you hate your life while doing it, it really isn’t worth your time. Delegate it to someone who does love doing it. It’ll get done quicker and probably end up a lot better than if you had suffered through it.

Evaluate for Efficiency

There’s no doubt in my mind that you know how to keep track of your income and expenses, but think about this. How much time do you spend each week or month doing this? Does it directly lead to cash in your pocket? No, it doesn’t. Just imagine how much more money you’d make during that time if you were doing something you love for a client instead of doing random admin tasks that are necessary but don’t lead to cash. In all honesty, hiring a virtual assistant will make you money, rather than cost you money, because your time working will be better spent.

Use a Team You Trust

Words cannot describe how vital it is to fully trust your team. You need a virtual assisting team that has your back, gets the tasks done, and does it without you needing to micromanage. After all, are you really saving time delegating if you have to check each and every task to make sure it’s done correctly? This can be the hardest part for entrepreneurs. Your biz is your baby, and handing over the reins can be really, really scary. Your VA team should give you a breath of fresh air, and you should know without a doubt that they’re as passionate about your biz as you are. These people will have their hands in your biz, so choose wisely!

Once you have an incredible team working behind the scenes for you, you’ll start making money 24 hours a day. That blog post your copywriter wrote for you in converting leads into customers while you take a yoga class. That eBook your VA perfected for you is drawing people into your mailing list where you’ll have constant access to them while you tan and sip cosmos. Your biz will start working for you, instead of you working non-stop for your biz.

What is the biggest benefit you’ve seen since you stopped trying to do everything yourself?