Laura Licursi

If you’ve been following me for any length of time, you know that one of my favorite ways to increase capacity is to delegate. (Read this post or this one.) You may be considering hiring a friend or family member – is working with that person in your best interest? You want and need great service, but not at the expense of a close relationship.

The fabulous Laura Licursi of Elite Virtual Assistants says that delegating to someone close to you can serve you well, if you ask the right questions and get the right answers.

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  1. Anyone you ask to help you will be doing tasks for you outside of their normal job, often at a discounted rate (or none at all). Laura suggests that instead you make sure you are being treated just like any other client, and pay accordingly.
  2. Just as you would communicate clearly to anyone you delegate to, it is important to have and express clear expectations about the result you expect.
  3. Is the person truly skilled in the field you need help with? Your nephew may tweet with the best of them, but it’s doubtful he is qualified to be your social media manager.
  4. If you were hiring a freelance virtual assistant, one of your first questions should be, “Do you have time to work with me?” The same goes for hiring a friend – be sure to define what you need versus what she can offer.
  5. How important is your relationship to this person? If things go wrong in the working relationship, will your personal relationship be in jeopardy?
  6. Why are you hiring this person versus a pro? If it’s because she IS a pro, great – you can delegate effectively and help out a friend. But if it’s because she’s the only person who even has a clue, or she desperately needs work, then this is not the best business relationship to create.
  7. If you’re hiring the person because you need to get help as cheaply as possible, you’re setting yourself up for failure. The old adage of “You get what you pay for” applies here.

Laura says, “Although staying within budgets are important, making business decisions based solely on your budget isn’t always the best answer. More times than not, you’ll end up paying for someone to ‘help,’ and then paying for someone to fix and finish that help. Hiring a professional to do certain tasks may end up being the best financial solution in the end.”

Thank you, Laura, for your wonderful advice on creating a working relationship with someone close to you. When you learn the right processes, you can be a delegating pro, achieving more without working nights and weekends to catch up!

Are you curious about how to have a life that has more money, more fun, more time for volunteering, more time for relaxation – while working less and feeling less stress? If so, I invite you to apply for a complimentary Productivity Breakthrough Blueprint session.

Here we’ll talk about your current life – and the life you want – and we’ll discuss some strategies to help you see your next steps.

  • Discover what’s blocking you from creating consistently productive and stress-free days.
  • Determine what steps you can take so you can stop working nights and weekends (and early mornings!!!) trying to catch up.
  • Identify the one simple step you can take to immediately get into action today.

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(header photo by RawPixel)