Kamala Chambers

Do you feel overwhelmed with work right now, have so much going on, and don’t know how to get on top of it?

In this episode, we’re going to be talking about the benefits of outsourcing and how to hire a team in a clear and easy way.

Even if you don’t think it’s possible, keep listening because I’m going to give you some clear ways on how you can get started.

Welcome to this special Monday episode where you either get to sit down with Luis or I or both of us, and talk about something near and dear to our hearts.

I want to talk to you guys about something I wished someone would have drilled into my head when I first started my business. This is about the benefits of outsourcing.

Kamala Chambers

We can’t do this alone. We could try to be everything to everyone and build a business on our own. But honestly, the most successful move I’ve made in my business other than starting a podcast was starting to outsource and reaping the benefits of outsourcing.

What I was doing is I was trying to learn how to do every single freaking thing it took to build an online business. I spent years learning how to develop websites and how to develop marketing funnels. Then, I had to learn graphics

I had to learn copywriting, email marketing, social media strategies, and automation. I spent years putting myself through training on how to do all of those different things.

If I just took the time from the very get go and hired someone who is already good at those things, I could have saved myself a lot of time, and ultimately, a lot of money.

Kamala Chambers

If you are a super human like I can think of myself as where I try to do everything, I want to encourage you to make a shift into outsourcing.

The benefits of outsourcing to your business is it basically makes it so you aren’t spending all of your time doing the smaller task that maybe you don’t have the energy for because you are the owner of your own business. You are the person in charge of what you’re doing for your life.

If you spend half of your morning trying to learn how to send out an email or put up a blog post, or write some code for your website, don’t you think your time could be spent in better ways? Don’t you think that you could be bringing in more money if you were doing the things you are naturally good at?

Kamala Chambers

Whatever your gift is, that’s what you should bring forward in every step of the way in your business.

Kamala Chambers

No matter how big that zone of genius may be, if it’s not in that zone of genius where you just feel like you are on fire or you are meant to be doing this, someone else should be doing it.

Whatever your gift is, that’s what you should be bringing forward in every step of the way in your business.

Looking for ways you can be living in your gift, shining your gift, practicing your gifts every single day for your business.

And everything that isn’t in your zone of genius…

Kamala Chambers

The reason why I didn’t outsource for years was simple. The top one was I’m not making any money in my business. How can I justify paying someone else to make money for my business?

Then, the second big thing was I felt like no one could do what I could do. I had spent all this time and energy learning how to do these things and no one could do it the way I needed it done.

Both of those things were false. They seemed like clear logic but they were very false, and they held me back in big ways to enjoy the benefits of outsourcing.

The first thing is maybe you don’t have the money to hire someone and I absolutely hear you. If your business is constantly in the red or you’re putting out more money than it’s coming in or you’re not even making that big of a profit margin, how can you justify bringing someone else in?

Kamala Chambers

There are great ways to find people who are low-cost. I have some fantastic resources for finding people to outsource too that are low low-cost. You can find people that are overseas. Maybe they live in a country that doesn’t earn as much income as your country does.

By hiring them, you’re doing them a favor because you’re giving them a life, something they can be able to do from wherever they are as well. You’re giving them this freedom of work. You’re able to have some people on your team because they charge far less than someone would as that maybe lives down the street from you.

I want you guys to check out those resources on benefits of outsourcing because those are going to be very important for finding where to locate some of these people to get the support you need. Sometimes, you can hire people for $2-5, that inexpensive, and they can do it better than you can.

Kamala Chambers

The second point is no one can do what you could do and it’s true. No one can do what you do. However, maybe 5 people can do what you do. That’s what it took. It took me hiring five people to be able to take over the workload I was doing in our business.

With those five people, I couldn’t be happier. We have someone who is an expert at graphics, and someone who is an expert at editing and writing. Then we have an audio editor.

We have all of these people that have their zone of genius and they can do it better than I can do it because I’m not burnt out. I’m not running around trying to figure out how to do all these things, and that’s what their life blood is. That’s one of the benefits of outsourcing.

Kamala Chambers

I need to be focusing. I’m the CEO of our company. I need to be focusing on the big picture stuff.

Kamala Chambers

If you spend two hours of your day answering emails, you should outsource that. Someone else should be doing that. You don’t need to be doing that.

If you spend a lot of time creating graphics for your business, I don’t care how great you are, someone else could be doing that.

If you spend a lot of time doing editing or writing blog posts for your business, someone else can be doing it. You do not have to be the one to do all of these things.

I encourage you to find other people who are good at what they are good at, that you can take some of that burden off and enjoy the benefits of outsourcing.

Kamala Chambers

There’s a big difference from hiring people who are entrepreneurs versus hiring people who are freelancers and employees.

I do not recommend hiring people who are entrepreneurs because they probably want to come in. They want to gain every bit of skill they possibly can from you, and then go out and build their own thing.

It doesn’t matter how well or how deep someone is into our team. No one on our team has the whole picture of our business. They have their zone of genius and their specific tasks, and we nurture those. That way, even if someone wanted to go out and build their own empire similar to Thriving Launch, they wouldn’t have all the pieces they need to be able to do that. I don’t have a risk of doing that.

Recently, we had an employee who wanted to learn some things about how to launch an online course. That’s something I put a lot of energy into helping people do is launch online courses.

I directed her to a resource but I noticed her work was also dropping off at the same time and she wasn’t showing up on time.

I knew that she’s an entrepreneur. She’s someone who has a dream and aspiration to build her own thing and that it wasn’t a fit for her to continue with our business.

Kamala Chambers

I just encourage you to not try to find another you. Don’t try to go out and find someone who is everything that you bring. Find people that are compatible and nurture their strengths and gifts.

To keep someone on your team and enjoy the benefits of outsourcing, there are some very important things.

You need to be clear with them. They need to feel they’re in charge of their own autonomy and they are a part of something. You don’t want just someone who turns into a punching bag or you treat them bad. You want someone to feel like they’re a part of something bigger.

In every step of the way, we’re always asking our team “What can we do?” “How can we make this experience even better for you?” That’s such an important piece. You want people to be involved.

To keep them on track, and keep them excited and inspired to work with you, your clarity is important.

Kamala Chambers

I encourage you that even in the hiring process and the process you have while they’re on your team is have your systems in place so people know what their roles are.

When you go to hire someone, make sure that you know what your hiring process is. What are the things that you absolutely need them to be able to do? Then, test them on that thing before you even hire them.

You might say in the very first page of hiring “Write me these three bulleted points back and let me know what you think about this.” If someone writes you back in a paragraph form, and they don’t do exactly what you say in the application, then you know they can’t follow directions.

Then, the next level is setting up an appointment to speak with them if they pass that level and they seem like a good fit. You give them a time that works for you to show up and speak with them on Skype.

This sounds like a no brainer but I probably had maybe close to 50 people not showing up for these interviews. I just knew for a two week or a month long process that I was trying to hire some new people for our team that I was just going to have a lot of open time so I could have that space if someone didn’t show up. I had these 15-minute slots back to back and most people didn’t show up.

There’s another level of knowing “Is this person going to show up for me when I need them?” And then, you can go back and take them through a deeper test. “Okay. Now that you’ve passed those two levels, Can you complete this first project?” You give them a small project to complete. If they don’t follow through with completing that project, then you also know they’re not able to follow through.

Then, even after all of that, sometimes, I’ve taken someone to that whole hiring process and by the time they get into the work, they don’t follow through. You’ll be able to see as you go through some employees at first the people that can be a part of your team who are going to work for you. That’s the hiring process.

Kamala Chambers

Then, you have the systems in place to get your communication across. How are you going to communicate with your teammate? Are you going to be doing it all through email or Facebook messenger or Skype? What is the easiest way for you to communicate what your needs are?

I encourage you to have your projects laid out beforehand. This process can take a while but I have very detailed instructions for every single step I need taken in all of my projects. If I want someone to transcribe an episode of a podcast, they know. It’s all written out and every single step is like maybe 16 different steps that they need to take to transcribe it.

You think, “Well, they just write it. Right?” No. There’s so much more involved to that. And if someone can’t even follow those instructions, then you know that they’re not going to be a fit for you.

Being able to follow instructions, think for yourself, and they are positive human beings, those things are all essential for a teammate. When I say a teammate, I mean a teammate.

I don’t mean you’re just bringing an employee on to slave away for you the crappy work you don’t want to do. You’re bringing in someone who is a part of your company and your company is your mission. It’s the thing that you are here to do.

I encourage you to get clear on the systems you have in place, the systems that you need to make things happen.

If you’re not good at project management, then hire someone to manage your projects. You can outsource that too. You can have a team leader who can be the one doing all the communication.

The next step for you is to decide what you want someone to help you with. Write up a description on what that job is going to entail. Then, go to thrivinglaunch.com, sign up for some of this services to find out how to get people on your team, where to even find these people, and then how to manage the team once you have them.

I’m grateful to be sitting here with you today and sharing the benefits of outsourcing. I look forward to sharing those resources with you over on the website. There’s just so many. I don’t want to spout off different URLs if you’re driving or something.

Head on over there and it’s nice to sit with you. I look forward to hearing about your new team. Keep thriving everyone.