In my last email, I started telling you about the time I totally abandoned my online business.
My wife was on bedrest with life-threatening pregnancy complications. She needed constant care. There was no way I was going to risk losing her or the baby. So I handed all of the day-to-day operations over to my VAs and held my breath.
It turned out to be the pivotal experience of my both my professional and personal life.
For the next three weeks, I was completely preoccupied with caring for my wife and two toddlers. I barely thought about work. In fact I probably clocked one hour of work, TOTAL.
At the end of those three weeks, my wife went into early labor and delivered a beautiful, healthy baby girl without further complications. We were beyond grateful that the baby arrived safely. But I still couldn’t return to work in full capacity.
My wife struggled through post-natal recovery. Any energy she had went to meet the demands of our newborn.
I continued to man the household duties and keep our two oldest alive and in check. (Which, by the way, is exhausting work!)
Over the next two months, I worked about one hour per week.
Which means that over three months, I’d worked on my business for a rough total of nine hours. That’s it.
When my wife finally recovered and I came back to work in full capacity, I was prepared for the worst. I had a lot of faith in the VAs I’d worked so hard to train. But at the same time, I was at defcon 1, ready to clean up the potential mess. I just hoped there was something left to salvage…
Then when I began to analyze the damage caused by my absence, I almost went into shock.
The business hadn’t imploded without me.
The workers I’d hired and trained so well had kept it fully functional.
In fact, not only was it functional, it was profitable and it had grown.
I was floored.
I couldn’t believe how much I’d underestimated these guys! Up to that point, I’d had no idea what my VAs were capable of.
Quick, clarifying side note: This was not a ‘miraculous hire-and-hand-off’ ordeal.
Prior to my hiatus, I’d put lots of work into the business and my VAs. When I left, it was fully functional and semi-automated. My two VAs had been working for me for 18+ months and I’d trained them well. They knew the ins and outs of my business and its automated processes (because I’d spent time teaching them).
When I stopped working, they were set up to keep the business alive. But my oversight and expectations were nominal.
Their hard work and dedication during those three months blew me out of the water.
Like most people, I thought they were only capable of doing menial work.
Now, they were doing the work I had previously been doing.
I just couldn’t believe it. I was living beyond Tim Ferriss’ 4-hour workweek — I was living the one-hour workweek. My business was thriving. And it all happened because I had no choice but to let my VAs step up and reveal their true potential.
That was my outsourcing wake up call.
I realized entrepreneurialism boils down to this:
there’s always work to be done in a business – it’s just a matter of who’s doing the work.
So this is the question I want you to ask yourself:
who’s doing the work in your business?
Is it you or someone else?
And if it’s still ‘you,’ are you willing to take a chance and let go?
Think on it,
John