3 Steps to Business Freedom
What is the point of building a business if it’s not to create freedom…freedom for a better life for ourselves and for our families? Somehow along the line the opposite happens. We become slaves to our businesses. We dedicate endless hours; we even work nights and weekends. If you think about it, sometimes we may be better off just having a job, at least this gives us the security of a paycheck…well, this is if we can find a job of course!
It is absolute true that in the early years of a business, one has to work hard to build it. The key is to work smart, not hard and to work ON your business, not IN your business. Eventually the goal is to REPLACE YOURSELF. Why…because the goal is to free up your time to do bigger and better things. This sounds fine and dandy…but is it doable? Or is this just the repertoire of educated MBAs, who never spent a Thursday afternoon trying to figure out if they will be able to meet payroll the next day?
The answer is YES, absolutely and definitively YES, it is 100% doable. Now, that is not going to happen by itself, nor can you believe anyone that tells you, you can build a sustainable business just by working two hours per day. That is a bunch of baloney. The only one making the money is the one telling you it can be done. What is true though is that you can build a real sustainable business if YOU take the time to build a company with well designed and implemented processes and systems in place…and then work the two hours a day in your business, not the other way around.
The 3 steps to business freedom are: automation, virtual delegation and outsourcing.
AUTOMATION:
In my previous post I walked you through the steps I took to implement systems and processes to convert my brick-and-mortar into a 100% virtual business. To read it go to “How to Become a Highly Effective Business.” In this post I am going to cover how I use outsourcing and virtual employees.
VIRTUAL DELEGATION:
Now, using automation and/or delegation just for the sake of not having to work too many hours can actually make a bad problem worse. On the contrary, implementing the correct automation and applying the proper delegation, can sky rocket your business. I use 100% virtual service reps. They are all insurance licensed and have been with me for years. The only difference is that they work out their homes. The benefit is that they are not dependent on location to keep their jobs.
The best example I can give you is Jessica, my most loyal service rep. Over 3 years ago, after working for me for years, her husband decided to move the family to North Florida. No problem, they left Friday afternoon and by Monday morning she was servicing clients as if she was sitting next to me. No one knew she was no longer located in Miami. About a year after this move, they decided to move to Georgia. Again, no big deal, her husband moved a few days ahead of her so the internet and phones could be up and running by the time she got there. Again, she moved by the end of the day on Friday, and by Monday morning she was servicing customers as if nothing happened.
OUTSOURCING:
When we implemented our chat system, it was obvious we could only handle it during office hours. Unfortunately there were chat requests that came during off office hours. To solve this problem, I outsourced this part of the business to a virtual company. They charged me only 32 cents per chat. Since we are insurance regulated, and they could not give insurance advice, all they did was walk our clients through our knowledgebase. It worked like a charm, clients learned to use our support desk, we provided 24/7 support, we followed insurance regulations AND it only cost us $32 cents per chat. This helped reduce the incoming calls even further, which lowered our overall costs. How? Calls and service are supported by highly paid service reps, so instead of paying $15-$20 per hour, now it only cost us maybe $2 or $3.
A word of advice, when outsourcing, always work with credible companies and check their references. Make sure they have all the proper securities in place and do background checks on people, especially if you deal with sensitive information. When converting your own employees into virtual employees, make sure you do the same thing; you can never be too sure.
BOTTOM LINE:
- Eliminate inefficiencies first, never automate something that can be eliminated.
- After you have eliminated inefficiencies, create processes and automate. Never delegate something that can be automated.
- After you have completed one and two, then and only then hire; fire or outsource your employees.
If you are interested in learning how to build a VIRTUAL BUSINESS, then just enter your email address in the form below for instant access to the “How to Build a Virtual Business Architecture” training video…
3 Steps to Business Freedom
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