Share the Work, Share the Love
April 27, 2009
I used to be one of those people who thought if you want a job doing right, do it yourself.
Of course I know now this is the road to burn out, and if not, a miserable, lonely existence. When you try to do everything with no help then you end up trying to do too much and break yourself in the process. You become a bore at best, and a grumpy wreck at worst.
On the other hand when you are ready to share your workload then you do not just become more productive, there are other benefits too:
- You have access to other’s creativity and experience, making your output so much better
- Deadlines and objectives become more achievable
- Sharing tasks gives other people valuable work which is a good thing for you both
- Business stops being linear and limited by your hours and becomes more parallel and scalable
- Your own tasks are more likely to be achieved as you have team members prodding you into action
- Human interaction keeps your day from becoming a never ending line of task items
The greatest benefits for me though were realizing that I didn’t have to shoulder the whole burden myself and that in fact my family could get to see me occasionally.
We are not simply talking about offloading your work onto outsourced contractors. I am also not talking about taking on the burden of employees (unless you are ready for that). You can not just give someone work and wash your hands of it. Even if you refer the work in whole to someone else, if you still have a client relationship then you need to keep some level of responsibility and have an active involvement in the outcome.
My approach now is to bring in skilled partners who have assets to offer over and above my own experience and skillset, and who are fun to work with.
Sharing the work becomes way more than a simple 1+1=2 equation, in fact the results exceed the sum of the parts - try it!
What is the World’s Best Advertising?
April 13, 2009
A client asked me the other day what type of advertising was the best.
I think they meant should they use Google Adwords, banner advertising, or should they advertise offline, such as in a magazine or on the radio.
My answer surprised them. It was none of those things.
Instead I told them the best source of advertising is their existing customer. This is called a “referral” and you can’t beat it for price or effectiveness.
All a referral will usually cost you is doing a really good job of providing benefits and customer service. That is, what you should do anyway. Oh, and you need to ask them to refer you of course.
When your customers tell other people how good you are they are waaaay more likely to believe that than any advertising you can possibly create. Even more persuasive is if they know you didn’t pay for that endorsement.
Talk to your customers, make sure they are happy, and if they are, ask if there is anyone they know who could use your services that they could talk to on your behalf.
It works like magic, you only need to ask!