3 Steps To Stop Wearing ALL The Hats In Your Business

Wearing hats is super trendy right now! They hide your bad hair days and can be a super easy way to dress up your most basic outfit — but today we’re talking about a different type of “hats”.

Today we’re talking about all those hats you keep wearing in your business and how your inability to let go of the things that aren’t in your zone of genius are keeping you stuck. (ouchhh!) If you’re into tough love keep reading…

After being an entrepreneur for 5+ years, there is one thing I know for certain about running a business and that is that you instantly become #allthethings real quick. One day you’re a hopeful risk taker with a dream and a plan, and the next thing you know you’re an accountant, publicist, marketing specialist, customer service agent, copywriter, plumber. (Oh wait, maybe that was just me plunging toilets at the Wedding Venue?) BUT YOU GET MY POINT.

Suddenly your dreams of running a successful empire are buried under all those hats you wear and the burden of keeping them going can be crushing. The worst part of all this is that you’re no longer operating in your gifts. The very thing that caused you to start a business from the start is nowhere to be found and instead of editing photos or putting together bouquets, you’re watching a YouTube video on how to reconcile your checking account because it’s almost time to file your taxes. NO MA’AM. Unacceptable.

If you’ve had enough and you’re ready to take some of the hats off today, I’ve got 3 Tips to share with you that will get you back to where you need to be in no time!

Step 1: Eliminate (what’s no longer serving you)

When you look at your business and your process you’re going to see a lot of work, time, and energy that you’ve put into keeping things afloat. You’re going to see a lot of “effort” and all of the things you’ve tried. But what’s going to get you feeling down in the dumps, stressed, and overwhelmed by it all is seeing all the things that didn’t matter. Who hates wasting time? ME! And I’m guessing you do too. So when you look back on everything you’re doing in your business that isn’t moving the needle forward towards your goals or that you’re doing because you just think you “should”. ELIMINATE, DELETE, REMOVE, BYE BYE to any and everything that isn’t serving you anymore. Here’s a quick way to check if you’re should-ing on yourself… Take anything you do in your business that’s exhausting or keeping you stuck and ask yourself “Why?” Why is a powerful question that gets us back to our original intention. Why am I even doing all of this? If the answer is the voice in your head yelling back “IDEK GIRL!” then cut it. Eliminate.

Eliminate is the first step for a reason. Usually, when you try to decide if you should get rid of something in your process, you’ll be met with “Well maybe I could just __ it instead!” If the next two steps can’t go in that blank then it has to go.

Step 2: Automate (what can be streamlined)

You may have assumed responsibility for certain things in your business as “shoulds” or things you HAVE to do because there is simply no one else who can do them or no way to avoid doing them. You have to get back to inquiries and leads quickly, right? That’s why you’re staying up until midnight getting your inbox down to zero so you can sleep in tomorrow. WRONG. You can automate many aspects of your business and it’s all about getting intentional about the systems out there that can help you automate these things.

Now this isn’t about letting robots take over your business or dumping all of your money into monthly subscriptions for different platforms hoping one of them sticks. This is about intentionally creating freedom. This is about intentionally creating more time. This is about using a CRM that will automatically respond to leads so they always get an initial response (even if they inquire while you’re taking a mid-day nap that you deserve very much – ok?)

Look for ways to automate any repeat or recurring tasks that happen in your business. As a general rule of thumb, if it happens more than twice a day, it’s time to seek ways to automate this recurrence or at least a part of it.

Step 3: Delegate (what isn’t in your zone of genius)

There are a few things I’ve never been good at. Math, for example, is a huge weakness of mine and that’s why I married an accountant. So why is it that one of the first things I tried to do in my business when I started out was make a spreadsheet to budget all of my business expenses? WHY?! Oftentimes, in our business, we try to cut back on costs, or “own” certain projects to save time. In reality, operating out of your zone of genius and doing things that aren’t your strength can actually result in losing more money, time, and energy.

Now let’s talk about delegating things that you ARE good at! (Because let’s be honest this is the most tempting) You might be thinking well I could write my own sales page, or I COULD schedule my own social media posts. Well sure you could. You can do a lot of things. That doesn’t mean that you necessarily need to, or should, or have time.

Look at your time spent each week and ask yourself what tasks (doable or not) could be delegated to a member of your team OR outsourced completely to a professional who could get this done more efficiently and with more ease than you. It’s all about ease and flow, what comes very easily to a copywriter may come with its own challenges for you.

The greatest investments I have ever made in my business were the delegation of things that were not in my wheelhouse. They always have had the highest ROI (see, I know a little bit about math!) But I’m not just talking about dollars here. This is where I get to see a return on my energy investment, my sanity investment, and other things that really matter to stay sharp and fulfilled as a business owner.

When you take these three steps into consideration and apply them to your business process you’re going to see one thing right off the bat and that’s the freedom that comes along with realizing you are actually not responsible for everything. That realization alone is both liberating and cost-saving. What’s the cost of losing all that time and money that you’ll be losing by trying to do all of this on your own? Is it worth the stress? How heavy are those hats? Too heavy my friend.

I hope we can all agree that wearing tons of hats at once is NOT sexy in 2021!

IRL this would look really awkward, feel uncomfortable, and they all wouldn’t stay on at once. Metaphorically and fashionably speaking it’d be a hot mess. Don’t do this to yourself, you’re much cuter without the hat anyway!

If you’re reading this and the wheels are starting to turn as you think about how you can apply this to your own business and service offerings, but you feel overwhelmed at where to begin, let’s chat! This is my jam and what I love to help my clients do during my VIP Day experience! I apply my signature framework to a power-packed 5-hour intensive where we get your process in alignment with your zone of genius, and get you out of the weeds so we can transform your business from life-consuming to life-giving in a DAY! Sound dreamy?