Today we’re going to introduce you to an amazing tool that will not only help you identify tasks to actually outsource, but also the value that it will provide you.Most people are incredibly busy, that’s a fact.
It’s easy to say that you need outsourcing to help you out, but many get stuck about what exactly to outsource and what is meant to stay as your personal tasks. This tool will make this identification process as easy as 123.
Before You Get Started – Make a Copy! Firstly, make a copy of this spreadsheet for yourself. From the Google Doc, go to the top left hand corner, select File, and then Make A Copy to have your own. Step 1. My To-Do List Create Your Business To-Do List As you can see on the first tab, you’ll need to create a to do list of everything that you do in your business. For example, some of the things you might be doing could be:
- Create FB posts
- Call up leads
- Follow up leads
The order doesn’t matter, but try to itemise as many tasks as possible for the best results. Categorise Your To-Do List After listing these out, you’ll then need to categorise each task into one of the 4 quadrants. Q1 – Important and Urgent – tasks you need to do right away Q2 – Important but Not Urgent – tasks that can be scheduled for another day Q3 – Not Important but Urgent – items that can be outsourced or automated, or declined (removed altogether) Q4 – Not Important and Not Urgent – treated the same as Q3 items Examples: Q1 – Customer complaints, queries, signing contracts, important sales calls, reporting Q2 – Customer satisfaction tasks – strategising, researching, networking etc. that will help grow your business Q3 – Data entry of critical work, booking flights, social media, uploading blogs Q4 – Non-work related matters, other It’s important to remember that how these are classified will vary per person – you might not find the same things as urgent as the next person so this is your own judgment call. Also feel free to fill out the goals and priorities section, this is just a useful tool to keep you on track for the month or period you’ve chosen. Step 2. My Prioritised To-Do List This sheet is simply a reflection of the first sheet – it will automatically allocate the previous tab into lists. (If you want to delete items, delete it from the first tab, and not this one). This way, you’ll be able to easily identify the tasks that you can allocate to your Virtual Assistant. Q3 and Q4 are the potential tasks that can be outsourced to your VA. If you’re not completely certain about what your VA(s) can and can’t do, send an email to us with your Q3 and Q4 lists and we’ll advise you on the roles and responsibilities of the VAs that can do these for you. The Q1 and Q2 lists are the important tasks that you need to do personally. However, if your VA is familiar enough with your business, you could always delegate the task of scheduling Q2 tasks to your VA. Step 3. Outsourcing Cost Analysis Here comes the interesting bit where you can actually see the value in outsourcing. There is no greater motivation to work harder and more efficiently with your VAs than when you can see the income value generate or saved. Quick Cost Analysis Simply go through the questions at the top to see the results.
- Enter Your Weekly Income Goal – you can either enter your current income level or the amount you want to achieve
- Enter Hours You Work Per Week – not a trick question, simply estimate the amount of time you spend working each week
- YOUR Hourly Income Value – this will be generated automatically
- Hours To Outsource Per Week – this might take a little guess work, but try to estimate how much of your own work you could outsource – maybe half, maybe a quarter – it’s up to you
- Cost Of Not Outsourcing Per Week – again, this will be automatically generated and you’ll be able to immediately see a rough estimate of how much money you could be saving through outsourcing.
When you compare the amount you could be saving to the cost of Outsourcing Angel’s VA Plans, the choice of whether or not to outsource becomes a no brainer. A small investment into a VA goes a long way, and you can see just how far for your own business through this tool. Detailed Cost Analysis The second half of the third tab guides you through additional tasks you can outsource and how much it’ll save you in greater detail. Simply go through the list and determine which tasks are applicable and how many hours you spend per week on it. If you only spend a small amount of time per month, divide it by 4 to get the weekly time (e.g. 1 hour per month = 0.25 hours per week). If you have other tasks not already on the list, add them in the bottom section. You can either type them in, or if you copy them from the first tab, just remember to right click and select ‘Paste Values Only’. If you’re unsure whether it’s General or Technical, just leave it as is. The difference between General and Technical is for the way that working hours are calculated. Most tasks are General ones – social media, content writing, admin work and so forth. Technical tasks are double credited because they need a specialised VA and include such things as web development and graphic design. Then the total hours and cost of you completing these tasks on your own will be automatically calculated – as well as the amount you could be saving by delegating it to us. On top of seeing how much you could be saving, it also illustrates how much time you’re wasting that could be used on growing your business instead. Even our own team has been loving this tool so we’re sure it’ll be useful for your business too. If you have any concerns or issues with it – let us know by sending an email through to info@outsourcingangel.com.au and we’ll get back to you ASAP.