Building Business: The CEO Way

Last week I talked about getting the best bang for your buck by hiring SMEs (subject matter experts). Rather than spending hours trying to figure out how to blog and tweet, why not hire a SME, pay the nominal fee and spend 2 hours being trained instead of 2 days researching?!

It gets me thinking: how do you value YOUR time? If you were to hire yourself out, what would you charge? Do you place a $$ value on your time or do you make a 'to do' list and just blast your way through it? Does each activity have a cost or return associated with it?

Consider that your time is just as valueable as a SME's time. You ARE an expert. You are the Owner who knows more about your business than anyone else - why not give yourself the value you deserve and delegate appropriately, freeing you up to make the most impact and create success for your precious company?! It goes without saying, of course, that we are monetarily immeasureable in the human sense, but if say your worth is $100/hr, then doesn't it stand to reason that you should be working ON your business - not dusting the shelves, tidying and organizing stock and trying to figure out how to use the POS? Consider that your time might be best spent working on developing the processes and operations of your business, setting corporate goals and establishing strategies - really understanding the direction and vision. Every entrepreneur has read The E-Myth, right?

Delegating doesn't mean "giving it away". It is actually effective management, plain and simple - leaving you to do what CEOs do (that's you, the CEO!), which is to create the strategy and vision of the company, build teams and encourage culture. BE the company culture and BE a leader not a manager (micro-). Having put in place objectives and monitoring metrics, your job is to monitor the progress of others.

Surround yourself with SMEs, outsource appropriately and monitor everything, Ms. CEO.

SME's or ME's?

I wonder, how many entrepreneurs understand the value of including subject matter experts (SME) in running their business? Have you consulted with a business coach, marketing guru, web developer or a social media expert? Gosh, I didn't even know such a wonderous person existed until recently (let's keep that on the down-low).

Consider that what you're playing with is your life; this is your vision and dream, your baby. Why NOT incorporate experts into the budget and save yourself time AND money!? I'm not going to admit how much time I spent (not including the dream-state-thinking) on trying to figure out how to set-up my blog page, actually create a blog, tweet (yet to be attempted!) add images, and so forth. There is so much information and so many options. Just talking with someone about etiquette and automation was worth it.

I went ahead and hired an expert at Out-smarts. I was so relieved; Mhairi (pronounced Va-ri) and I spent focused time in one-on-training and I was immediately able to apply my new skills. Now I must keep up to my blogging commitments!

Our projects are worth incorporating SME's (and the ME's are not on the team!) - so why not put a SME to great use on you?! It frees you up to tackle the rest of the list...or go for a run.

If time is money, then entrepreneurs are worth zillions!