Recently I became overwhelmed. I was falling behind on returning telephone calls, emails, and things were slipping through the cracks. Something was going to get ignored, and I could not afford that. I needed help. But I am not in a position to hire staff. I have investigated virtual assistants and could not justify the move—I tend to be one of those guys who thinks that no one can do a task as well as I can. So, what to do? I just needed to get over this hump.
Finally, I organized my tasks into two piles—stuff I had to handle and stuff someone else could handle. When I did this, I breathed a sigh of relief. My “to-do” list was not nearly as daunting and appeared even manageable.
I turned to my local community college as a first step. They are on break right now, and I contacted the head of the art department, who gave me a list of several students she recommended to help with some graphic needs. I contacted two, and one was interested in making a few extra dollars. You see, they can whip this stuff out fast…I’d struggle for a week. So, it was $100 well spent, and within 24 hours, I had the three graphics I needed along with a brochure design. We both won. The student gets $100 for summer beer and a LinkedIn blurb. Plus, she will likely get future small projects from me and the people I recommend to her.
I needed to scour the web for some data I needed. I was looking to get a prospect list for marketing a program. No matter how you looked at it, this was tedious work. It involved visiting nearly 800 websites, identifying the contact information, and putting it all in a spreadsheet for manipulation. I turned to a website called Freelancer.com. I created an account, entered the parameters of my project, and literally, within seconds of hitting submit, I began to get quotes for the work. I selected a freelancer; we chatted about the project, and gave him the go-ahead. In less than three days, I had my data. Had I done it myself, I’d still be working on it!
In the end, I am caught up. Well, at least for now, all because I realized I needed help and asked for it! As entrepreneurs, we all feel invincible; but we aren’t.
When you need help—ask for it! Do you? Will you?