Getting the Hang of the 4-Hour Work Week

Some time back, I mentioned that I was reading the book The 4-Hour Work Week by Timothy Ferriss. If you haven't read this yet, adn you are an entrepreneur (or you want to be an entrepreneur), I highly recommend the book.

As a self-diagnosed recovering control freak, it's hard for me to let go.

Just ask Mark, the guy I hired as my assistant. BTW, Mark and I are still working together, but he's not really my assistant. He's more like a junior partner...talk about your fast promotions!

The issue is that there are a number of things I just wasn't ready to let go of, to hand over to Mark. It didn't really have antyhing to do with him, but it had everything to do wtih ME.

Like I said, I'm a 'recovering' control freak. Baby steps, baby steps.

But this week (is it really only Tuesday?) I have yielded some control, and it feels absolutely fabulous.

It's funny, I give this same advice in my ebook, The Success Method -- you should pay someone to do anything you hate doing, or anything that causes you stress (or that you suck at). Sometimes I forget to take my own advice...and then later, when I remember, I marvel at how brilliant the advice is, and I wonder why I wasn't listening to myself sooner.

(In The Success Method I give you a specific formula to determine whether or not you can afford to hire someone to do these things, adn whether or not you can afford NOT to.)

I've found a remarkably affordable site to find people to do the stuff I need to delegate to stay sane.

Do you know about Elance? It is a remarkable place to find people to do the stuff that you either don't want to do, or that you're not good at. Writers, web people, illustrators and graphic designers, legal, administrative, you name it. It's outsourcing galore, and it's a constant theme throughout Timothy Ferriss' book.

I assigned out 3 projects in teh last couple of days, and I've already gotten my first completed project back from one of hte freelancers, and I'm absolutely delighted by teh results.

LEt me just give you one example:

There was a particular project (I won't bore you with teh details) that I was planning to do myself, simply because I didn't know anyone good who does this kind of work. It would have taken me about 10-12 hours to complete it, and via Elance, I paid someone $50 and got it back within 24 hours.

Hooray for Elance!

I'm going to be delegating a lot more in the coming months...this giving up control thing is actually an awesome feeling. Thank you Timothy Ferriss! I realize now, I haven't been nearly as lazy as I could be. Time to kick it up a notch (or down, depending on how you look at it).

QoD:

What is sucking up YOUR time that could be delegated out? The more necessary stuff you can delegate, the more time you have to do what YOU want to do.

Go for it!