Balance Your Life by Delegating and Outsourcing

It’s time to reflect on how you’ve felt over the last few months or years.  Are you constantly tired? Do the piles of work seem never-ending?  Are you feeling too busy?

If this is the case, you’ll find that it is time for some serious changes in how you work.  You need balance in your life! One way of discovering work-life balance is to enlist the help of others.

More and more people understand the value of delegating some of their responsibilities, but can we actually outsource our responsibilities? Of course!

What Is Outsourcing?

The term outsourcing is a big buzzword in today’s world. Essentially it means to hire someone to do certain tasks (like a VA or Virtual Assistant!) so you, the business owner, or homeowner, can have more time to focus on the important aspects of your work and life.

For example, if you’re running your own business, outsourcing allows you to spend more time on money-making tasks. If you’re an employee, outsourcing may give you more time to get the key tasks done so you can spend more time at home. Or if you’re a homeowner, outsourcing frees up your time from repetitive or mundane tasks like cutting the grass or doing home repair research.

When you first think about delegation and outsourcing, you might initially balk at it, especially if you don’t run your own business.  If you’ve put a lot of effort into your property (properties) and/or a job you may be leery of the idea of handing it over to someone else, but the benefits are too great to ignore.

Benefits of Outsourcing or Delegating in Your Business

• Focus on the things that matter most to you. Let others worry about the customer service or fulfillment. Let others tackle the technical issues or tame your email inbox. When you focus on what matters most to you, you’ll be able to get more done.

• Focus on what you love to do. If website design and technical issues bore you to death, outsource those activities to people who enjoy doing that type of work. Doing what you love yields better quality of work and life.

• Spend more time with your family. You will be free to enjoy more time with your spouse and kids. Instead of trying to solve all problems at work, you’ll be able to rest easy because another capable person is taking care of it for you.

• Save money by hiring experts (anyone with more skill than you counts!). Someone who has vast experience will be able to work more quickly and efficiently than you, especially if you’re unfamiliar with the task. Sometimes it’s okay to leave a task for the experts!

Remember: when you outsource or delegate your responsibilities, you’re effectively buying your time back.

Outsourcing and Delegating at Home

If you’re still wondering how you can outsource or delegate at home, it’s easier than you think.

You can delegate chores to each family member. Not only will the work get done quicker, but you’ll be teaching your children an important life lesson about teamwork. Need some other ideas? How about the following:

• Hire a landscaper to cut your grass and keep your yard clear of leaves and sticks. Unless this type of work relaxes you, hiring a professional will allow you more time to have fun with your family.

• Hire a house cleaner. As children get older and more families have both parents working, less and less family time is available. Why spend your free time cleaning all weekend? Let a professional do the work in half the time.  We use the same cleaners as we do for our BNBs.

• Hire an accountant to sort through your personal tax information. Reduce your stress by letting a professional figure out which paperwork to fill out and what deductions you qualify for.

• Hire a grocery shopper or use an online grocery service. If you hate the idea of grocery shopping, some grocery stores offer an online grocery service where you can place your order online and, within a day or so, your groceries will be delivered to your door. If that’s not available in your area, you can always hire a responsible neighbor to do the shopping for you.  Even if you feel this is excessive, you can pay $5 or less to have someone shop for you at Sprouts and then simply pick up at the store, instead of wasting all your time shopping.  Let them do it for you!

• Hire a neighborhood teen to rake your leaves or shovel your driveway in the winter. This frees up your time and allows the teen to earn some extra spending money.

There may be financial decisions you have to make before you decide if the idea of outsourcing and delegating is right for you.  Make sure that you consider the pros and cons, but if you need to do it, there is no reason to wait! You’ll get more done and you’ll lead a more balanced and healthy life!

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for BNB-Boss