Here’s a question I get asked a lot (especially by entrepreneurs and professional coaches):
Susan:
Running my business is so overwhelming! Can you recommend someone who can produce an online course for me, run all of my marketing campaigns, get me booked in the media, figure out how to fill my client docket, keep my website updated, manage all of my social media accounts, answer all of my emails for me, write my future-bestselling-book, get me a six-figure book deal and, you know… do everything for me?
Greatness is not a solo act.
Behind every successful entrepreneur, athlete, or performer is a team.
A team of people urging them to aim higher, stay focused, and deliver their absolute best.
That much is true.
But there is a difference between hiring someone to help turn your B+ work into A+ work — and hiring someone to do all of the hard work that you don’t feel like doing, feel scared of doing, or are (yeah, I’ll say it) just too distracted to do.
Michelle Kwan didn’t hire her coach Frank Carroll and then say, “Can you train every day and then skate at the World Championships for me, pleeeease? I’m just so overwhelmed!”
She said, “Push me. Teach me. Help me become the best skater I can possibly be. I’m not afraid of hard work.”
Yes, every business, project, and person is different.
Yes, there are exceptions to every rule.
And yes, there are plenty of perfectly good reasons to hire people to help get things done. (I’m currently working with a pro designer (she’s MAGIC) to revamp this entire website — because girlfriend, you do not want to see my sad attempts at “coding,” I also work with Alexandra to help make my newsletters, blog posts and worksheets sparkle like word-diamonds. But first, I have to generate ideas, collect stories, figure out the message I want to deliver, and give her solid concepts and outlines to work with.)
Bottom line:
Whether you are trying to run a business, build a coaching practice, bring a book into the world, repair your marriage, reinvent your career, become a legendary public speaker, train to run a 10K, or permanently lose weight…
You can’t “outsource” all of the hard work.
There are certain parts of your work that only YOU can do.
Deep down… I think you know what those parts are.
Don’t run from them.
Run into them.
Don’t fear them.
Just do them.
Susan
PS. Feeling pumped by this piece? Read this blog post by Nicole, an ultra-marathoner and Founder of Life Less Bullshit. She asks: “What if we started looking at hard work not as something to be avoided and outsourced, but as the ultimate path to fulfillment?” YES, girlfriend. YES.
