I had a conversation with one of my clients last week about her massive to-do list. She was so busy doing things like shipping and answering emails that she could not work in her brilliance. For her this is designing. And, I can tell you she was frustrated, and her business was suffering from this.

Not delegating for some of us is really about giving up control. It is hard when we know how to do everything correctly. (Do we really?)

And, we think that by the time we show someone how to do it, we could have done it ourselves. Yes, it does take time initially. The end result is worth it.

For others it is not knowing where to start — what to delegate, who to delegate to, and where to find this person.

Here is a system that has worked for me and my clients.

1. For the next couple of weeks, write down all the tasks you are doing. And, I mean all the tasks. Even personal tasks.
2. Go back and identify the tasks as Entrepreneurial/Managerial (tasks you must do) or Administrative/Technical (tasks that could be done by someone else). You might even find tasks that are really unnecessary and should be deleted.
3. Next to those that are Administrative/Technical and assign a dollar amount that you think you could pay someone for doing these tasks.
4. Sort the tasks by category. You might find some related to your website, some to social media marketing, some to personal items, some to bookkeeping. This will help you identify the type of person — their qualifications — you need to hire.
5. Identify potential resources where you might find help. Possibilities include assistu.com; ivva.org; odesk.com; elance.com; craigslist.com; your church; your neighborhood; the local shelter; arts groups or guilds you belong to. Once you start thinking in this direction, you will come up with other ideas.
6. Start with the lowest cost items first or the ones that are most frustrating to you. For many people, bookkeeping is the first task they delegate. Set up expectations for the task, create trainings/procedures for the person you hire, and develop a system to be sure that things get done.

Yes, this takes time, and should be something to revisit on a periodic basis. It is easy to slip back into doing it yourself instead of teaching someone else to do it, especially if the hire does not work out as you expected.

So what should you be delegating that you are not? Who are you going to hire? And, when? Share what one item you are willing to let go of.

If you have taken steps to delegate, or have more questions regarding delegation, please feel free to leave a reply below or on the ICAP Fan Club Facebook page.

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR E-ZINE OR WEB SITE?

Please do! Just use it in its entirety and be sure to include the blurb below:

Morna McEver is the founder and CEO of the International Association of Creative Arts Professionals where creative arts entrepreneurs craft business success. Her weekly e-zine offers tips, techniques and inspiration to help you craft business success from your creative arts passion. You can sign up for a FREE subscription at http://www.creativeartsprofessional.com.

Do you remember the hit “Rescue Me?” Depending on how old you are, the tune was recorded by Fontella Bass, Madonna, or Daughtry. While the lyrics are different, the theme is the same. The subject of the song is in need of rescue, rescue by someone else.

While many of us are not looking for a someone to save us in the terms of the song, do you have other instances where you are looking for a rescue? I will give you a few examples. Are you looking for someone to take over your books and then tell you what to do with your business? Are you delegating  some of your work and then not following up or keeping track of the work? Did you fall behind preparing for the next show and are scrambling for someone to get you of the jam?

It is fine to look for help or get feedback. It is not fine to give up your power by looking for a rescue. And, yes, this is what you are doing by not being fully knowledgeable about your business. Remember delegation is not the same as abdication.

You cannot completely step into your own power and accept the rewards you deserve from your life and business if you are looking for a rescue.

It really comes down to personal responsibility. You need to learn to be your own rescuer. Besides, rescues only really work in fairy tales!

Where in your life and business are you not taking personal responsibility and waiting to be rescued? How are you going to change this? Why not share your thoughts on our Facebook page or leave a reply below.

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In conversations with several of my clients recently, the topic of sales came up. Really it was the topic of not feeling comfortable selling. So I ask you, does selling feel icky to you?

No one likes to be sold to, and we all have opinions about people who sell. Do you know that Gallup® does an annual survey on honesty and ethical standards of people in a variety of fields?  Car salespeople come in close to the bottom of the list, and have consistently been near or at the bottom of the list for years. (Being from the DC area, I found it interesting that members of Congress and lobbyists were even lower.)

If you go to that same list, what professions do you think occupy the top positions? In 2013, it was nurses. Why do you think that is? I think it comes down to the fact that nurses are compassionate, caring people and that comes through to their patients.

What would happen if you took this same compassion and care in “selling” to your clients? It’s not hard. It just requires a mindset shift. To me it is about providing a service to your clients or customers. You are not selling; you are providing a service; you are solving their problems.

How do you do this? First, you listen to your customers. Learn what their problems are. Then you are able to help them with what you have to offer. It is about being authentic and operating in integrity. If you believe in your product or service, and in yourself, it is not hard to “sell” what you have.

Start with a mindset shift from “selling” to “serving.”

I would love to hear your comments on this below or go to our Facebook page.

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR E-ZINE OR WEB SITE?

Please do! Just use it in its entirety and be sure to include the blurb below:

Morna McEver Golletz is the founder and CEO of the International Association of Creative Arts Professionals where creative arts entrepreneurs craft business success. Her weekly e-zine offers tips, techniques and inspiration to help you craft business success from your creative arts passion. You can sign up for a FREE subscription at http://www.creativeartsprofessional.com.

As I came back to work this morning after the long weekend, I faced a mountain of things to do. Where to start? Maybe I could manage to do more than one task at a time. You know, answer the email while I am listening to an online class, or trying to straighten the studio while I am making a phone call and quickly check the calendar to see if an appointment is scheduled. Quite the picture, isn’t it?

Yes, I am talking about multitasking and it does not work! According to Harvard Business Review blogger Paul Atchley, studies show that multitaskers are less efficient, perhaps by as much as 40%, than they think. He says that it takes an average of 15 minutes – and I have read numbers as high as 40 minutes – to reorient oneself to the main task. Wow – 15 minutes! Can you imagine how much time you waste on a daily basis trying to get back to the task at hand?

If you want to break your multitasking habit, here are four tips:

1. Focus on one task at a time. Atchley says our attention starts to wane after 18 minutes. He suggests that if that happens and you switch to a different task, make notes about the first task so it is easier when you go back. I think that if your attention wanes, it might be time for a quick stretch and then quickly re-focus on the same task.

1. Since I mentioned focusing on a task, be sure to divide your project into doable tasks. Set a timer for the task. I find it easier to focus if I have specifically set the time aside. You can find an online timer or use your iPhone alarm.

1. Eliminate distractions. This could be closing the door to your studio, letting the answering machine pick up the calls, stopping the audible tones of your e-mail. What is key is paying attention  – again focus – to your task.

1. Stick with it until it is done and done right.

 

And, if you think multitasking is only a problem today, here is a good quote from Lord Chesterton, attributed to a letter to his son in the 1740s:

“There is time enough for everything in the course of the day if you do but one thing at once;
but there is not time enough in the year if you will do two things at a time.”

 

Good luck single-tasking.

 

Recently I have been talking with several of my clients about what seemingly little things they put up with. Yes, and some of the big things, too. We all have what could be called “tolerations,” those situations, problems or things that are really solvable, but that we let stay unattended. What happens? They bug us on occasion, and, more importantly, they zap our energy. Sure, we can put up with a few items, but most of us let the list grow. And, we start to compromise on those items. You know, maybe it is not really that bad. The problem is that you start to desensitize yourself to all the good around you.

So, how do you get control on those tolerations? First, admit you do actually have some! For starters, make a list of what you are tolerating. I do not think it will be hard to come up with 20, and I am sure you will get more if you get started listing them. So set aside 15 minutes and start your list. You might even do this walking through your house or office. I wlil admit I have one set of curtains that circle the floor. (No, they are longer than what is fashionable.) Every time I look at them, I think I should just take them down, run a quick seam and be done with them. It is such a simple, little thing, yet it takes energy from me every time I go through the room. So start that list and keep at it. It might be the dead plant you leave thinking it will suddenly grow shoots. It might be the clutter you live with. It might be your kids’ socks that never seem to leave the family room floor. It might be the stack of library books you have got in the car you are meaning to take back. It might be something your spouse always says that you that you live with rather than create waves. Look at all areas of your life: your business, your home, your car, your environment, your habits and behavior, and the habits and behavior of those you interact with.

Next, ask yourself for each of these tolerations what you are getting from it. While it may seem odd, you have some benefit for not addressing the toleration. You also have costs for each of the tolerations, so identify those. Once you realize what the benefits and costs are, it becomes easier to take action.

Decide that you are ready to take action on the tolerations and start at the top of your list. At some point, it really will hit you that you do not want to tolerate any longer. Just tackle one toleration each day. If I can decide today to hem those curtains, you can pick something on your list. And, watch what happens: you will build momentum towards eliminating the tolerations and you will find more energy.

What are you tolerating that you commit to eliminating?

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Do you ever go to a trade show, an event or even a show and come back with lots of notes, papers and business cards? Well, I know the answer is yes to that one. What do you do when you get back to the office? Here are some tips to make it easier:

1. This first tip makes it easier because you do something at the multi-day event rather than waiting until you return. At the end of each day, go back through your notes and mark the top three as far as action items are concerned. Be sure to do this every evening. At the end of the event or the next morning when you are back in the office, look at your list for each day, prioritize and then narrow the list down to five overall. What actions can you take in the next 30 days to move these ideas to implementation? Schedule it.

1. What about the mass of business cards? Ideally you do this as you meet the person, but it is not always possible. I like to look at each card, try to remember the interaction and what next action is necessary. I will write this on the back of the card. It might be as simple as the person wanted to start getting your weekly newsletter. It may involve additional follow-up from you. Whatever is required, take care of it or schedule it.

1. Onto the handouts. I know I come back with flyers for products. Ideally you go through them in the evening and toss what you do not want. I have found that I may not have time for that and they end up in a stack. When I get back in the office, I toss out what I do not need. I sort other materials into what needs more information and what needs action. Then I schedule time to do this.

What are your tips for dealing with events? I know that it is very easy to let the notes, cards and flyers just stack up in the corner without attending to them.

About 10 years ago my husband worked with Toronto-based Strategic Coach, a firm run by Dan Sullivan. Dan and his staff worked with entrepreneurs on issues ranging from “strategy creation” to “work/life balance” and from “developing intellectual capital” to “creating and implementing exit strategies.” Because my husband would share the lessons, I felt like I was learning right along with him. One of the lessons that stuck with me was what Dan calls “The Referability Habits.”

If you stop and think about any success that you have experienced, it is because of a relationship. You do not just create the success by yourself. I see this everyday in myself and my clients. And, if you think about it, your most powerful testimonial is “word of mouth.” That’s your best customers wanting to introduce others to you, so that you can help them. Why do they do this? It is not just because you do a good job. According to Dan, you have developed four key habits. If you have these four habits, you will get referrals. Here they are.

1. Show up on time. How many of us making punctuality a priority? I believe that when we are late, we are saying that our time is more important than the person we are meeting with. It is rude behavior, and I doubt any of us wants to be perceived as rude. Allow yourself time to be on time, maybe even a bit early.

2. Do What You Say. This is all about commitment. Your word is your word. Do not over commit, keep a schedule so you know what you committed to, and follow-through. And this applies to everyone in your life and business, even yourself.

3. Finish What You Start. Do you ever get excited about a project and then get sidetracked and don’t finish it? Keep at it until it is fully done. To do this, you have to know what the finish looks like, so spend time figuring that out and follow through until you reach the goal.

4. Say “please” and “thank you.” We learned this common courtesy early on as children. I know I learned this from my parents. I still remember it being reinforced as the two little magic words from Captain Kangaroo. Doesn’t it make you feel good when you hear those words? It makes others feel good to hear them.

What do the four rules have in common? They show respect and appreciation for the other person. They let you build a level of trust and you become a valuable resource for the other person. And, it makes you a referable person. These are great every-day strategies to incorporate into your life.

Do you have others you might like to add?

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The Icarus Deception
Seth Godin
Portfolio Hardcover; $24.95

I recently listened to this book and found it full of some good reminders. You may remember the story of Icarus. Icarus and his father Daedalus, who made wings from feathers and wax, attempted to escape from Crete. Daedalus warned Icarus not to fly too high where the sun’s heat would melt the wings or too low where the sea’s dampness would clog them. Ignoring the warning, Icarus flew too close to the sun, and the melting wax caused him to fall into the sea where he drowned. Godin takes the story and asks us to move out of our safety zone, he asks us to fly closer to the sun. He talks about the fact we are living in the connection age, rather than the industrial age. Creating connections is what creating art is about. And art is not just the traditional definition we might have. Art is what we do with passion, what anyone does with passion. A corporate business person who has passion in what he creates is an artist. A bus driver who connects with his passengers is an artist.  Godin encourages you to take a risk, to share your art, to connect. While parts of the book seemed repetitive and preachy to me and it did not always seem always seem cohesive, I thought it had some valuable nuggets.

What is your passion? I would love to hear about it below.

You can look for the book at your favorite quilt shop or book retailer. Here’s a link to Amazon  if you would like to learn more about the book.<br/.>

What is marketing? For years the American Marketing Association defined marketing as “the process of planning and executing the conception, pricing, proton and distribution of ideas, goods and services to create exchanges that satisfy individual and organizational objectives.” Whew! Last July the AMA approved a change in its definition to “the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large.” Still a lot in that definition, though the rewrite seems to have left out the value for the organization.

For me, I have been defining marketing as “inviting people into your world where you can share your gifts to help them solve their problems.” If you do a good job, you are rewarded for it, both monetarily and in other ways. It is about creating a relationship with others to serve them. I was reminded of the value of relationship marketing this week.

At my home, we contracted with a company to do some work on our deck, replacing bad boards and re-staining the surface. We have had numerous problems with the company, whom I will call Company A. Company A actually subcontracted the job to Company B. Company B did the board replacement and subcontracted with Company C to do the actual staining. We did not realize we were contracting with so many companies.

Yesterday I had a conversation with R, the man who owns Company C. He came to the United States from Jamaica and was sharing his philosophy of marketing. (He told me he had been an entrepreneur for 14 years now.) What was most important for him was building a relationship with the customer. It was not about the money; it was about the relationship. He said that if he put the relationship first and went beyond doing his work, the rewards would follow. Watching his work and listening to his stories, I can see why he experiences the results he does.

I also read an interesting article in the New York Times over the weekend by Arthur C. Brooks titled “Love People, Not Pleasure.” It was about unhappiness and filling our empty spaces by loving things and using people. Adversely, the formula to happiness is to love people and use things.

That ties right into my, and Company C’s R, theory about marketing. It is about loving and serving people.

How do you define marketing? Leave a reply below.

I am really a very organized person. I know where to find what I need. I could say, “A place for everything, and everything in its place,” only that is not quite exactly true.

While I am organized and I know where everything is, I can become someone who is consumed by stacks of this and that. Yes, I know what is in the stacks, but all those stacks are robbing energy from me.

When the space is clearer, so is my mind. When my mind is clear, I will work better. I know this to be true. I also know that once I start working in a clear, clean, cutter-free environment, new opportunities show up for creativity and for business. Why would I not want this to happen?

Last month I decided I really needed to get back in control of my space, back in control of my energy, and I launched a clutter reducing plan. (I think the visit to the used book store where I couldn’t find my way was part of the incentive. I am making it fun for myself. I have got three days a week that will have clutter-reducing activities. They are Toss-Out Tuesday, Weed-Out Wednesday and Throw-Out Thursday. I really only have to schedule a little time each day to reduce what I am saving.

And, I have planned my rewards. In addition to a treat at the end of the de-clutter session, I purchased an orchid to keep on the quasi-desk I have behind my computer. It looks nice in its new space!

It is nice to have the files in a drawer, and fewer files in the drawer. I managed to get rid of quite a lot. I have boxes of books in the garage waiting for a friend to pick them up and deliver them to the Virginia Quilt Museum where they will be sold to support the museum. Old quilt magazines are set aside for another pickup. And, the recycle bin has been quite heavy on its weekly trip to the street. Why was I holding onto this? In some cases, I thought I might need the material in the future. (Wonder if I would remember where it was?) Some I felt guilty about having purchased and not used. Some were pretty projects that I wanted to make. Of course, I have not yet, so I tossed 90% of those, too. Not to mention my tastes have changed over the years.

Will you join me? As you pick a time to sort through what you have, ask yourself some questions. Why are you holding onto this? What happens if you toss it? Will you really even miss it?

Will you join me and make space for good energy in your business and life?

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