You mean business. That’s why today I’m asking you to leave the DIY to your interior design projects and crafts with the kids.

I’m going over the TOP 8 reasons why doing everything yourself is hindering, NOT helping, your business success! Read on for some tips and advice on how you can scale your business (and free up your life) so you can focus on what’s important.

1. Your time is worth so much that doing certain tasks yourself is actually costing you money

Are you familiar with the concept of opportunity cost?

Let’s say you’re an entrepreneur who’s been doing your own admin work for a long time- things like checking email, responding to customer support tickets, arranging your schedule, etc. You’ve done it for so long that you regularly time block this into your weekly schedule, and it only takes you about 6 hours a week to get through it all since you’re so efficient.

Consider this- how much is an hour of your time worth? Maybe you charge $699/hour for consulting. This means that while you spend 6 hours per week doing admin work that you could be paying someone $12/hour to do (a total of $72 a week), you’re missing out on making $4,194.

Many entrepreneurs feel overwhelmed with everything they have to do, and think they don’t have the time in their day to get everything done. A study conducted in 2017 by Maui Mastermind (a business coaching firm) found that the average American business owner spends more than 30% of their workweek on unnecessary or low-value activities! They also discovered that 6.8 hours per week is spent on activities they could’ve paid someone else $50/hour or less to do.

Not being mindful of the value of your time is one of the easiest ways to lose money. Don’t underestimate the importance of delegation! If you haven’t already, figure out how much 1 hour of your time is worth and be mindful of this figure when outsourcing labor.

2. You’re missing out the shorter timeline and better results that comes with hiring a pro

Most activities in your business, if hired out to a professional, would cost a lot of money. While it’s generally okay to delegate most of these to entry- or intermediate-level hires, certain activities are probably best left to the pros. Some examples are Facebook Ads, business strategy, and accounting.

You’ve got 2 options: hire a pro, or do it yourself.

When you choose to do it yourself, you’ve gotta do quite a bit of prep work. You spend time learning how to do it yourself on the internet, or pay for a course. As a beginner, you’ll have to account for the time it takes to learn this, the slower speed that comes with being new to this process, as well as the time you spend making the mistakes before you actually start doing the thing.

You can’t forget about the other activities you’re sacrificing in order to spend time doing this!

When you hire a pro, you just find someone qualified to handle the work (don’t forget to ask for references from your biz besties) and give them the brief. Maybe you answer any quick questions about specifics or provide feedback, but as an experienced professional they’ve got the skills to do the task. PLUS, their experience means they can do this pretty quickly, keeping the hours spent on this project lower and- most importantly- off of YOUR plate!

Given the time and money you sacrifice learning it yourself, it’s very possible that the financial cost of DIYing it is the same as hiring a pro.

Except hiring a pro is less work for you, less stressful, and lets you can spend more time in your biz doing what’s important.

3. Even if you’re in the early stages of business, hiring is still a feasible option

If you’re really not up to shelling out the cash for a professional, there are still tons of other effective ways to outsource or delegate your work. We believe that it’s always a good idea to get help, no matter what stage of business you’re in.

You can hire an entry-level employee part-time and train them yourself. You can also hire a VA in the Philippines from OnlineJobs.ph (note: this is an affiliate link!). You can also hire a VA in the US from places like Upwork.

There are tons of platforms out there where you can find people ready and willing to help you tackle your to-do list. I encourage you to do some more research and see what other options are out there!

If you need some help figuring out exactly which tasks you can start delegating, we’ve whipped up a special little gift just for you. Click the image below to grab a FREE DOWNLOAD of our guide, 173 Things You Can Outsource or Delegate.

4. You wanna learn it all- but is it worth it?

Are you the kind of person who’s constantly looking for the next thing to learn? Do you like searching for courses or memberships that’ll grow your skills and advance your business?

Chances are that, as an entrepreneur, you’ve got at least a bit of this in you. And it’s definitely not a bad thing! Enhancing your skill set and continuously learning is how you make it to the top.

But you’ve gotta consider whether or not you’re doing this strategically.

Let’s say we have an entrepreneur who doesn’t have the best writing skills, and they know it, but they understand the importance of a company blog. They can either buy an expensive writing course, spend lots of time learning how to write good blog posts, then spend the next few years writing their own blog posts.

OR, they could just outsource their copywriting to someone else who makes that their area of expertise so the entrepreneur can enhance their skills in areas relevant to their position as a CEO. This might mean investing in something else like leadership development classes, business coaching, or a mastermind membership.

5. It’ll put you on the fast track to burnout

Burnout is real. Despite all the chatter about being a ‘boss babe’ and ‘the hustle’ of running a business, this kind of lifestyle just isn’t sustainable in the long run. If you’re so busy trying to DIY everything that you’re working 70 hours a week, you need to sit down and ask yourself: are you really setting yourself and your business up for success?

The number of hours you work does NOT equal your success! Sure, you’ll probably need to put in some extra elbow grease early on, but you’ve gotta step into those CEO shoes at some point and get some help. Don’t forget to live your life!

Burnout sucks, and it isn’t something you want to suffer from before you do something about it. One bad burnout session can really set your business back- or potentially tank it.

Hire some help- for the sake of your business (which WON’T benefit from an overworked leader), your family, and your mental health!

6. When a personal disaster strikes your one-woman show, there’s no one left to carry on the act

What processes do you have in place for your business when an emergency throws a wrench into your personal life? Surely you haven’t been telling yourself, “I’ll deal with that when it happens.”

When you have a team (which might be even one other person helping you out), you’ve got people to offer you and your business support during these times. It’s a downer to talk about, but at some point you’ll have to deal with an emergency. If you’re the star of the show doing it all (like payroll, editing videos, sending invoices, customer support, etc), what do you expect to happen when you’re unexpectedly not able to show up?

While you’re busy tackling that emergency, you’ll probably also be stressing out about your business falling apart without you. You can’t stop thinking about the disaster that you’ll return to once this emergency blows over. If you want some insurance to lighten the pressure, your solution is simple- hire!

Sunny Lenarduzzi, YouTube expert, was caught off guard when a friend suddenly passed away. She was the rockstar when it came to her business, and life yanked her off the stage. Suddenly, her business was left high and dry. She talks about her experience in this episode of the Screw the Nine to Five Podcast with Josh and Jill Stanton- I highly encourage you to check it out!

7. Without collaboration, ideas tend to be one-sided and work days are lonelier.

When you’re a solopreneur, you’re missing out on the fun of working with other people.

Sure, it’s nice to work without anyone interrupting you to make small talk and have to freedom to do what you want when you want to. But it can get lonely sitting there in your office. Maybe you wish you could have someone around to bounce ideas off of or just chat with.

Plus- diversity of ideas is important! Get out of that echo chamber. The best ideas emerge when multiple people from their own unique backgrounds gather around to pitch their thoughts and ideas. Wouldn’t it be awesome to create a business where many great minds can come together and build something amazing?

8. Being a prideful lone wolf who refuses help won’t get you far

Lots of entrepreneurs go into business because they’re the kind of people who like to do it all: they building something from nothing, which takes a lot of hustling to learn new skills and cram as much learning and doing into their schedules as possible.

This is great if you’re starting a business, or in the early stages and trying to get it off the ground.

But if you’re seriously trying to scale your business, drill this into your brain: asking for help doesn’t equate to a loss of your independence! You need to move beyond the mindset of, “If I can do this on my own, I shouldn’t ask for help!” Help isn’t a bad thing- it’s what’ll help keep you afloat instead of weighing you down with the pressure of doing it all alone.

So many women (especially female entrepreneurs) can relate to this struggle. I talk about the symptoms, causes, and treatment for what’s known as the ‘lone wolf syndrome’ on episode 39 of the SoulFULE podcast, Never Suffer From Lone Wolf Syndrome Again.

Now you know why not DIYing it all as an entrepreneur isn’t just an acceptable business practice, but actually something necessary for success and scale! Once you understand the importance of delegation, you’ll know exactly why this is a huge part of being a leader in your business- you need to give your team members the freedom to flourish and develop!

Now that you’ve gotten a taste of the benefits hiring can bring you and your biz, you’re probably ready to take some action. You know you need someone (you might even have an idea of the kind of person you want to bring to your team), but the road to finding and hiring that person is a little hazy.

We’ve got a FREE 3-day live training on the books- just for you! To grab your seat and start your journey towards building your ultimate dream team, click here.

If you’re ready to regain your focus as CEO of your biz, but aren’t sure where to start, download our FREE guide that lists 173 Things You Can Outsource or Delegate!

What are YOU currently delegating? What do you want to START delegating? Share your plans with us below, and send this blog post to anyone who you think will benefit from this advice!