I’m going to tell you a quick but embarrassing story. And, I’m telling it because I know it will save you a lot of time and frustration. So, here we go.
One time I was creating a proposal for a client. Pretty basic right? Here’s where it got complicated. The client wanted it delivered as a PDF, and all the pages had to be vertical, except for one. They wanted one of the pages with a bunch of data on it to be in a horizontal format.
Here’s the problem. I had no clue how to make that happen! I spent 30 minutes trying to figure it out myself. Another 30 minutes trying to Google the solution, then another 30 or so looking at YouTube videos.
After 90 minutes I still couldn’t figure it out. So here’s what I finally did. I went to Fiverr, typed in “format pdf” and found someone who could do the job for me. $10 dollars and 10 minutes later, I had a completed proposal for my client.
And while I was glad to have it done I was frustrated at the fact that I spent close to two hours on something that took someone else 10 minutes, and only cost me $10.
I kept thinking about all the other stuff I could have done in those two hours.
- Write a blog post
- Create my next newsletter
- Post and engage on social media
You know, all the things that actually generate revenue for your business and you’re uniquely suited to do. That’s when I realized how important it was to stay in your zone of genius, and outsource everything else.
And, you probably realize this as well, but here’s where many people get stuck. You may not feel comfortable going on a platform and asking some unknown person for help.
And, I don’t blame you. You don’t know anything about them or the quality of their work. But on the flipside, if you don’t start leveraging remote experts, you’ll continue to spend hours on tasks that are a waste of your time, energy and talent.
Fortunately, Fiverr has solved this problem for you with their premium offering called Fiverr Business, a platform caters specifically to medium to larger sized businesses with larger teams and bigger budgets.
And here’s one of my favorite parts, it includes premium features like a vetted talent pool, so you’re getting the best of the best freelancers.
How can you start leveraging remote experts to improve your business, and what’s the best way to get started?
I chatted with a few entrepreneurs who also leverage Fiverr Business so they can share their experiences with you during the most recent episode of the Launch Your Business Podcast.
You’ll learn:
- The pre work you should do before you even start looking to add a team member
- A practical and time-saving way to hand off tasks
- The revenue outcomes associated with freeing up your time by hiring expert workers
I’ve shared some of my favorite takeaways from the episode below.
When should you look for outside help?
Sunny Williams, co-founder of TinyDocs, a company that makes animated shorts explaining health issues in terms accessible to kids, says he knew he needed help shortly after launching.
“Being a social impact business and having a pretty big vision … I had to kind of do an audit and realize, what are the skill sets and talents that I needed around me in order to execute on our vision of creating a healthier world for our children. I don’t have the most creative background. I’m pretty limited in my talents and, and creativity.” After a friend suggested that Sunny look into Fiverr, he realized he had what he calls, “portal to all the talents and creativity and skill sets that I needed to start executing on this vision and building this really robust business.”
For other entrepreneurs like Ari Turner, founder of skincare company Look Good, Live Well, bringing in new team members may not feel like a natural first step. She admits that she waited too long to hire help for her business.
“The company that I built was actually a response to reaching burnout in a past career,” Ari says. “Several years later when I was in the thick of working on Look Good, Live Well, I found myself face-to-face with burnout again. I’m like, wait a minute. I left the stressed out job. I’m doing what I love. How are we here?”
If you’re feeling this way, here’s one way to start getting time back. Keep track of every task you perform that could be done by someone or something else. Then, resolve to outsourcing or automating these tasks.
How to prepare for hiring a remote worker
After Ari realized she needed to bring on help to relieve the burden of doing it all, she sat down for what she calls a come to Jesus meeting – with herself. Before she went searching for the perfect virtual assistant, she wanted to be honest with herself about her working style, communication preferences, strengths and weaknesses.
“I’m the CEO of my company right now, but I am definitely a very forward-thinking individual and I need to be managed,” Ari said. “I’m definitely a visionary when it comes to work, and so even from the lens of hiring a virtual assistant, I didn’t just want a VA, I wanted someone that could also help manage projects that we had going on.”
With a clear concept of what she needed, Ari was able to confidently move forward with bringing on her first team member. But as you’ll notice, she wasn’t just looking for an order taker and you shouldn’t either. Instead, hire subject matter experts who can also serve as thought partners.
The business outcomes from leveraging Fiverr Business
Ari said that there are more benefits to hiring someone to work on your business on your behalf than just revenue – of course scaling is part of the equation, but there’s also quality of life to consider as an entrepreneur.
You can be more present as a parent, friend, or spouse if part of your mind is freed up from extraneous tasks. With a larger team, you have even more minds and hours at your disposal, all of which can free up your time to work on things that fall within your Zone of Genius.
With TinyDocs, Sunny credits his creative team with their exciting growth over the last couple of years. As a team, they’ve created work that’s been recognized by international film festivals and have quickly grown their presence on social media.
Sunny says that you might be thinking you can figure it out on your own, but working with other people gives you the opportunity to see a different (sometimes better) way of doing things and enables both of you to work in your area of expertise.
In my experience (which includes the pdf fiasco) you’ll also avoid common mistakes and move much faster!
Next steps:
If you’re ready to scale your business with vetted experts, here’s my suggestion:
- Listen to the full episode below
- Jot down at least one project that you’d like to outsource
- Find a vetted expert to complete your project on Fiverr Business
This story originally appeared on Entrepreneur
