Having a great month?

I hope you have enjoyed this first month in your membership. You have defined your ideal life, business, and position. In this blog, you are going to learn how to take the ideal position you created and put it into action. That’s exciting!

Many business owners, especially small business owners, feel if they are not in control of every facet, the business will fall through their hands like grains of sand. I can tell you from personal experience; working this way will burn you out so fast.

While every detail must be handled, it is important to draw a clear line between your function as the leader and that of everyone else. You are there to create a vision and do a few things that are your true strengths. Everything else related to execution should be delegated to others.

When you think of your business from this perspective, it is easier to clarify the activities that you, as the owner, want to engage in as your ideal position.

It isn’t being your secretary or handling most of the day-to-day execution actions. Rather, it is only those few activities in which you excel – the ones highlight your strengths. What you do as the owner should only include what you truly love to do. After all, one of the reasons you started your own company is that you want to take control over your destiny. That begins with defining your position on your terms.

Further, one of your top criteria for the type of activates you choose to do is they should bring high value to your business.

If you already own a business, chances are you are wasting much energy on tasks that should be delegated to someone else, which could include a virtual assistant. Make a list of all the activities you engage in during an average day.

Review the list. Now, put a check mark beside all the activities you enjoy doing. Next put a star by each activity that brings high value to your business. Your goal is to only perform activities that both have a check mark and star. Everything else should be delegated in-house or out-sourced.

Let’s define “high value” in dollar terms per hour. Then if an activity is worth less than this amount, seek someone to delegate the activity to, which could include an outsourced person. Consider elance.com and odesk.com as places to find independent contractors to whom you can outsource these specific activities.

Here are some guidelines for choosing a dollar amount per hour to set as the threshold for determining if the activity should be delegated. Remember if it is less than the threshold you set, start looking for someone else to do the activity. They may not be full time people. In fact, you may only need them a few hours a week or even a month for any given type of activity.

• Early stage businesses with annual revenues between $0 to $100,000: consider a dollar amount per hour between $25 and $50 per hour.

• Business with annual revenues between $100,000 and $500,000: consider a dollar amount per hour between $50 and $100 per hour.

• Growth business with annual revenues between $500,000 and $1,000,000: consider a dollar amount per hour between $100 to $150.

• Seven-figure business with annual revenues exceeding $1,000,000: consider a dollar amount per hour of $150 and above.
Note: an exception to the above is that at every stage of growth you will need to engage services from highly skilled professionals or technical workers, such as attorneys, accountants, designers, marketers, that may cost up to several hundred dollars per hour. However, these are activities that you would not attempt yourself as you lack the background, education, or skills to effectively complete them.
Creating your ideal position starts with identifying and defining what it is you exactly want from your business so you can achieve your ideal life. However, actually obtaining this position in your company takes planning, collaborating, and delegating those duties that play to your weaknesses rather than your strengths, to others.

It is time to create your third vision board, which is for your ideal position. Get out your colored markers, magazines, photos, scissors, glue, and tape as well as a new cardboard or corkboard to use for your vision board.

Before you create the actual vision board, write a specific description of your ideal position. Just start writing and think of all the things you would enjoy doing that would also bring high value to your business. See, hear, and feel what your ideal day in your business would be like.

Now create your ideal position vision board. When it is complete, put it up somewhere in your office, or home office, where you can see it every day.

Wow. How do you feel having completed three vision boards, one each for your ideal life, business, and position in your business? If you are like most people, your vision of what is possible for you over the next three years probably expanded as you created them.

Look at all three vision boards and enjoy thinking about all that can happen in your life and business in just three short years 🙂

Make Your Difference,

J V Crum III MBA/JD/MS
ConsciousMillionaire.com