The Three Hot Principles That Make it Easier To Hand Off The Little Tasks

Identifying and documenting your key processes shouldn’t be hard. I’m going to show you the fastest way to identify, unpack, and document, even if you hate documentation.

Are you busy? Of course you are.

I recommend taking some of those little tasks off your hands. The problem is, it’s SUCH a hassle to get all of your processes down on paper, and that’s especially the case if it’s a task that only takes five minutes. Why bother documenting it if you can just do it yourself?

The thing is, those five minutes build up over time to much longer than you might realize (more on that in a minute…).

The Key Process Builder Workshop is all about making this process faster and easier. Even if you hate documenting, you can use it to set up your processes.

The Problems

The big problem that a lot of people have when it comes to building out SOP’s is that they don’t know where to start.

You know that you have all of these things in your business that take up time. You always wish you could get somebody else to do them, but you aren’t sure how to get the process going. 

Another problem is that you just don’t have time.

It feels like building and documenting the process takes too long so why not just do it yourself? 

Ultimately, this can point to fear and frustration around letting other people do the things that you do. 

Maybe you think they can’t do it as well as you.

What ends up happening here is that your desk starts accumulating more and more tasks. As a business owner, you’re wearing multiple hats, and each of those hats probably has five to seven key accountabilities.

And those are all on your desk.

Your ego’s saying that you’re the only one who can do them. But reality’s telling you that you’re in a miserable situation because it’s too much.

The Opportunity

So, what happens if you start to build out your processes with this system?

The first step is a clear starting point. You get to figure out what tasks in your business take up the majority of your time. And from there, you understand what you can get off your plate.

Another opportunity is that you can find somebody who can do the task better than you.

You need to identify the process, figure out the outcomes, and then get that thing out of your head. 

You give it to somebody else and manage the process rather than the person. And as long as you have the right person, that task gets completed correctly.

Again, it’s all about overcoming the ego and recognizing that you’re not the only person who can do this.

Identify Your Five Tasks

The key objective here is to identify five tasks that you can get off your plate.

Moving these tasks to somebody else frees up time that you can use to delight your clients. I promise that there’s a lot of stuff that everyone reading this does right now that doesn’t serve their clients.

If you build these processes, you can spend your time on clients and delivering better results. That’s going to get you more customers and allow you to charge higher prices.

The question now is how to identify those five tasks that you need to get rid of.

I’ve got three hot principles that will help you to figure this out.

Hot Principle #1 – Look in the Mirror

Every agency has four critical systems:

1. Marketing
2. Sales
3. Operations
4. Finance

Usually, you’re going to look at what your business does for all of these things. But now, I want you to look at what you’ve done for each of these systems in the last few months.

For example, you’re probably doing a bunch of stuff on the marketing side of things. Looking at what you’ve done makes you aware of these tasks.

That awareness is the first step toward building your new process. You identify where you can gain leverage so you can build out a process that serves your team and your clients better.

You’re going to look in the mirror. You’re going to catalog all of the things that you’re doing so you can figure out what to focus on and what to delegate.

Doing this also helps you to figure out the key business processes. These are the things that absolutely have to get done to keep this thing rolling.

Focus on the reality.

Figure out what you’re doing to generate revenue and start from there. That’s going to help you to free up your time and offload some of those things to other people.

Hot Principle #2 – Lighten the Load

Once you’ve cataloged all of these things that you do, it’s time to ease the load.

You document all of the processes that are key to achieving the freedom you desire in your business. Then, you stop holding onto anything that somebody else could do.

The key thing to remember here is that no task is too small to document and delegate.

Let’s come back to those tasks that only take five minutes that I mentioned earlier.

That action doesn’t actually take five minutes. You’re going to spend time contemplating that action. You know that something needs to get done and you’re going to spend time thinking about it.

You might do that for another five minutes. That means the task’s actually taking you ten minutes.

Then there’s another issue if it’s a task that you really hate doing. In that case, you’re going to spend more time consciously putting it off. You’re going to have to convince yourself to do the task, which will take up even more time.

After that, you’ve got all of the thinking that comes afterward.

For example, let’s say you’ve just sent an invoice. You’re going to spend time wondering if the client’s received it. Have they opened it? Are they going to dispute it? Why haven’t they paid it?

All of these thoughts take up even more time.

Now, that five-minute task ends up taking 15 minutes.

I’m a big believer that no task in your agency takes you less than 15 minutes to complete. When you think about it like that, the idea of spending some time on documenting doesn’t seem so bad.

You’re not just saving five minutes.

You’re saving anywhere between 15 and 30 minutes. Each time.

Hot Principle #3 – Use the Five-Year Rule

So, let’s assume that this five-minute task of yours actually takes 15 minutes. 

The Five-Year Rule’s going to show you just how much time you’re going to save if you offload this task.

15 minutes is a quarter-hour, which is 0.25.

Now, let’s assume that you do this task five times a week. Maybe it’s a daily thing that you need to get out of the way.

That means you’re going to do the task 1,300 times in five years.

Do the math:

0.25 x 1,300 = 325

That’s 325 hours that you’re spending on this one task every five years.

You could probably do something with that time, right? That’s 325 hours that you could spend on the highest value work that you do for your business.

This small task might only generate $10 an hour for your business. You’ve probably got stuff to do that will generate $150 an hour or more.

So, think about it like this.

You could spend 325 hours on a task that generates $3,250 over five years.

Or, you could spend that time on something that generates $48,750 over the same time period.

It’s a pretty obvious choice, right? You’re costing your business $45,500 over five years if you keep doing the less valuable task.

The point behind this rule is to show that there’s real value attached to offloading these “little” tasks.

Start Building Your Processes

Here’s the great thing about what I just showed you.

That only covers one task. You’re going to use this to identify, document, and offload five tasks.

If we go back to the Five-Year Rule, that’s 1625 hours that you can use for high-value work.

You’re going to claim back your time, which you can use for yourself or spend on growing your agency.

That’s what UACADEMY is all about. We want to make you a more efficient and effective business owner so you can create the agency you always dreamed about.

Don’t you think it’s about time you joined up with us?

Apply for a FREE strategy session today to discover if we’re a good fit for you.