At the end of the first year SageRock was in business I mentioned to a friend of mine, who owned his own business, how much I had learned that first year.

He said he felt the same way at the end of his first year in business. But then he said, “Wait till the end of the second year. You’ll be so surprised what you didn’t know at the end of the first year.”

He was so right.

13 years later I still am learning major things about business.

The title of this post is the thing I’ve learned most recently.

A fundamental flaw I, and so many people make, is that we do all the work.

Here was my schedule yesterday:

1. 7:30 – 8:45 – wrote a blog post.
2. 9:00 – 10:15 – held SageRock System class.
3. 10:30 – noon – had strategy meeting with Greg.
4. Noon – 2:00 – worked with designers on new SageRock site.
5. 2:00 – 5:00 – built microsite in WordPress for a client.
6. 5:15 – 7:00pm – cut down trees in the back of the SageRock property.

If you were my coach, what would you tell me?

This is what I think I’d tell myself:

Items 1, 3, and 4 are helping grow your company. 2, 4, 5 and 6 are production. Yes they need to be done. But someone of a lower pay grade should be doing them.

I am the world’s most expensive tree cutter. (In my defense, however, I do enjoy it.)

If I were crafting the day I should be working, it might look like this:

1. 7:30 – 8:45 – wrote a blog post.
2. 9:00 – 10:30 - had strategy meeting with Greg.
3. 10:30 – noon – talked with prospects and target market people on Facebook and Twitter.
4. Noon – 2:00 – worked with designers on new SageRock site.
5. 2:00 – 4:00 – followed up with prospects who we have sent proposals to (something I never do)
6. 4:00 – 5:00 talked with prospects and target market people on Facebook and Twitter.
7. 5:00 – 6:00 planned next day.

I’m not saying that you should just go home and watch TV and then the money will start pouring in.

What I’m saying is that senior level people need to do the things that no one else can do. 

The minute a senior level person starts working in production all growth of the company stops.

Instead of building that client’s site it would have been better for me to go meet with him and learn more about his business.

The problem is delegation.

from: BALOO’S CARTOON BLOG: Delegation cartoon

Giving work to other people works completely different muscles. It’s easier to just do the work yourself. On top of that, I do those things because I like doing them. They’re fun.

But the other stuff is fun for me too.

If I’m serious about wanting to grow my business I need to be in strategy and not production.

This is true for me and it’s true for you.

Think more. Work less.