015 💡Maximize Your Impact: The Power of Delegation🚀
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​It’s the last weekend in January and nearly the end of a 31-day sprint for me.
​Over the last 4-weeks, I’ve broken down my predictions for the creator economy in the year ahead, how to use those predictions to grow your revenue to $250,000 over the same time, and how to build a launch plan to reach your target audience.
​ Cheers to consistency.
​ If you’re new here, Welcome, you can view past editions here to catch up.
​This week, I am sharing what I believe is one of the most important elements to ensure success for you as the founder of your own creator-led business: effective delegation.
​I’ve worked across several companies while also leading my own and the most significant determinant of a project’s success almost always boils down to three things:
​#1 The trust (or lack of) between the leader and their team
#2 The team’s level of autonomy
#3 The systems in place to ensure success
​Â
I was a solopreneur the first year of my studio, then started hiring out of necessity. I was tired, overworked, and desperately needed help.Â
​I hired the first person who expressed interest in working with me, and because of my limited budget (remember those $1,500 services), I was also limited on the level of skill I wanted to require.
​Big mistake.
​Several missed deadlines, late nights, and angry clients later, I had to fire the person. I was still tired, overworked, and in desperate need of help.
​When it came time to hire again, I put a lot more thought, effort, and budget into my next few hires: a creative strategist and a project manager. Both hires grew into their roles, received promotions, and now work with me as core members of the studio team. Â
​I’ve also had hires that were huge misses that caused more headaches and money than I care to share but taught me valuable lessons about the importance of building trust and setting up teams for success.
​Here’s how you can avoid making critical mistakes as you’re preparing to scale your business.
​Structure your systems
​ The first step to any delegation framework is to first structure the system. This matters even if you’re the only one in the business. Is there a particular way you like to onboard clients? Have you found an easier way to do this because you’ve done it for so long? That’s really great stuff to know – so write it down or record yourself doing it.
​ It will take time at first, but you’ll be glad you did when during client work and need to onboard someone quickly. My team currently has a massive database of SOPs, templates, and best practices they can refer to whenever they are stuck on something. Â
​I’ve found it helps to build trust and autonomy if they review the videos or content beforehand, attempt it, then come to me with questions.
​ This small step completely shifted our interactions and saves so much time in the long run.
​Identify areas you can offload
​A key part of delegation is getting crystal clear about what you can offload to others and what will always require your input.
​ Case-in-point: Founder-led sales.Â
​There was a period when I was completely burned out and thought that the solution was to offload the sales process to free up my time for other things like strategy and growth.
​Those factors are absolutely important elements to cover as a leader, but so are closing deals! There’s no point in a great strategy if you don’t have the revenue to execute it.
​ What I learned throughout this process is to vigorously inspect the actions I’m taking on a daily/weekly/monthly cadence and offload anything that isn’t revenue – strategy – growth-focused.
​Thinking about systems, creating pitch decks or proposals, following up on emails, and anything else that can be taught has been documented, detailed, and offloaded so I can focus on the areas that have the most impact: cultivating a team of great leaders and growing the business.
​Offload and get out of the way
​This is the hardest part.  For me, it’s been a delicate balance in learning how to show I’m there without always jumping in to do it myself.Â
​I’m still learning how to do this, but once you’ve built the systems, documented them, and identified where to offload: actually doing it is going to be the difference maker.
​Summary
​In summary, maximizing your impact as a founder will be key to realizing your goals for your creator-led company and setting you up for sustained success.  To grow, you’ll need a team of people who understand your systems, can execute continuously, and free you up for the areas that drive the most value.
​To do that, you’ll need to learn how to delegate effectively, and I recommend focusing on these 3 areas:
​Week #1: Structure Your Systems Â
Week #2: Identify Areas to Offload
Week #3: Offload and get out of the way Â
​That’s all for this week.
Thanks for reading.
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​​​​Love + Light,
​​​​LaTecia
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