7 Signs It’s Time to Hire Help

Courtney Elmer  0:00  

Do you struggle with knowing where to find good help? Growing a team can be one of the most challenging the most frustrating things that you learn to do as a business owner. But it can also be one of the most rewarding. And recognizing when you need help is hard, though, it's really hard. So this is something that you struggle with. Listen closely, because in today's episode, I'm going to share some very practical, very empowering strategies that you can put to use right away, to help you overcome any fear or any guilt that you might have around asking for help. So that you can get the help you need to grow a business and feel fully supported. That's all coming up next. So stay tuned. 

Courtney Elmer 

Globally ranked among the top shows to grow a business and education, we're known for one thing, helping overworked entrepreneurs like you learn how to grow a business like a true visionary leader, because when you get the right systems support, and structure in place, you can spend more time in your zone of genius. So if you're tired of listening to today's business influencers teach this same old worn out marketing strategies that aren't making you any money, it's time to take a look under the hood of your business and fix the engine itself. Because the truth is, you don't have to work as hard as you are right now to scale beyond six figures, and create the greater influence income and impact that you deserve. The secret to scaling starts on the back end of your business. This is the AntiFragile Entrepreneurship™ Podcast.

Courtney Elmer 

Welcome back. You're listening to the AntiFragile Entrepreneurship™ Podcast. This is episode 161. I'm your host, Courtney Elmer. And I promise I don't always sound like this gravelly, sexy, late night radio announcer. Oh my goodness. In the last episode, I got really vulnerable with you. And I shared some of the major challenges that life has thrown me lately. And as I was recording that episode, in the back of my mind, I'm going and here we go again, I could feel that post nasal drip starting for the last week, I have been doing everything I can to protect my voice to save my voice. And it's just not working. So this is what you get today. You get late night, sexy, gravelly voice, Courtney. So you know, it's interesting, because as life unfolds, the next thing hits us. Right. And I talked a lot about this in the last episode. And I got a lot of feedback from that episode, from our listeners, like you, who were saying thank you for sharing that. Thank you for being so transparent. Thank you for giving me hope that I'm not the only one who is struggling right now. And I'm so grateful for all of that feedback. 

Courtney Elmer 

And thanks to my team, we got to thinking, how can we further help you through the inevitable setbacks growing a business that one day or another will come your way? So my team went back and pulled out some episodes from our archives that we've remastered, and we're going to share these with you in a little mini series here on the show today, and in some of the weeks ahead. Now, today's episode is one that originally aired way back in 2020, when we were all in lockdown, and it was about five ways to ask for help, without feeling guilty. And I need to be honest with you, asking for help has for my life, been one of my greatest, greatest personal struggles. And recently, recently, as in within the past month or so, I have noticed this fear coming up to the surface, that I'm a burden. And this belief that goes along with it that nobody cares about me or what I'm going through, everybody has all of their own stuff going on. And I've been working on this belief very actively over the last several weeks because number one, I know it's a limiting belief. It's not true. 

Courtney Elmer 

Number two, it's something that was buried so deeply within me that it has only just now surfaced and if you know anything about limiting beliefs, or if you've listened to the show for a while, then you know that self growth is kind of like peeling an onion. You start with the first layer. You work through that. And then you become aware of something deeper and you work through that and you become aware of something deeper. And I have been peeling this onion for well over 15 years now. And I have only just now noticed this belief which is kind of crazy and kind of exciting to me at the same time. I love it. stumbling on my limiting beliefs. Love hate, right? Because we know that when you work through them, it's difficult, it's challenging, your ego pushes back, your unconscious mind pushes back, because it's been a safety mechanism and a protection mechanism, a way that your mind has helped to keep you safe, and to survive in the world. And as I've become aware about this belief that I've had, I've begun to recognize the ways where I resist help in my own life was interesting though, as, as I look back over the last couple of years, I've noticed this belief at play in my life. And in growing a business, I haven't been fully aware until recently of what that belief was, and what it was protecting me from. 

Courtney Elmer 

But I did recognize my struggle with asking for help in the early days growing a business, and it became even more evident and apparent once I became a mom. So the content in this episode, share some of the very first practical steps that I took to get help in growing a business. And now, we have a team of 10 people, including myself working for the effortless life in various capacities. And it's one of the reasons that I was able to grow a business to six figures working just 20 hours a week. Because that is the only window, I have to work. Outside of that I'm in mom mode. So whether you're just getting started growing a business, or whether you've reached a point of burnout, and you are listening to this episode in desperation, and you're realizing it's time to expand, it's time to get help. But I'm struggling with that I'm struggling to know where to find good people, I'm struggling to even recognize where I need help to know what I can outsource and delegate, and what I actually need to be doing myself. What I share in this episode is going to help you today. Because last year, as I shared about in the previous episode, it became really obvious to me growing a  business, that we had reached a point in growth where we needed more hands on deck. And in every season of growth, it always boils down to this, you as the visionary leader, the leader growing a business, you are responsible for first recognizing that you need the help. And then to work through any fear or guilt that might come along with asking for it. And this can be really difficult to do, especially when you're used to wearing all the hats yourself when you're used to juggling everything and being the sole person responsible for getting things done growing a business. 

Courtney Elmer 

So the first question we have to ask ourselves here, as leaders growing our  businesses is, how do I know when it's time to hire? How do I know when I need additional help? Now the questions I'm about to give you are questions you can certainly ask yourself, and it's questions you can teach your team members to ask themselves to because eventually, as you grow your team, you're going to get to a point where your team members reach their capacity. And so it's important to be always on the lookout for when they are needing additional help and support to. So here are some indicators. Number one, are you consistently adjusting deadlines or not meeting deadlines? Number two, are you feeling stretched thin? Is there a feeling as you go about your day of being spread thin are finding it really hard to focus because you have so many things to focus on. Number three, going about your day feeling like you have this low grade sense of pressure. Do you always feel like you're running out of time that there's never enough time to get to those things that you need to get to in a day? Number four, is your calendar fully booked? Do you literally have no physical room anywhere else in your schedule to schedule anything? Number five, do you make your list of things to do every day? But inevitably, always still have things to check off? I think that's true for most of us, right in general. But if you notice this happening a lot. And very frequently like it's everyday it's everyday and it's been everyday for weeks or months. That's a capacity indicator.

Courtney Elmer  9:39  

Number six, do you find yourself making exceptions to work outside of your normal working hours, for instance, late at night after the kids are in bed, or on the weekends? This was me last year as I was going through all of those challenges that I shared with you in the last episode. I was working Saturday mornings and I work Saturday mornings for six or more months straight. And that is not my norm. Normally, I'm off Friday through Sunday. So that was like a big red flag for me. And finally, number seven, do you feel like you're going through the motions? Internally, on some level? Do you feel disconnected from your work like the spark is gone, the joy is gone. I hope you're writing these down. Because even if these are not relevant for you right now, they will be relevant for you at some point. And the thing about growing a team that you also need to remember is that growing a team is kind of like birthing a baby. I mean that very literally, because during the stage of birth, where the baby's in the birth canal, and the mother is pushing, the baby is making forward progress. But when the contraction ends, and the mother stops pushing, the baby actually recedes back a bit, then there's more pushing and forward motion, then receding and more pushing, then receding, and so on until the baby is born. 

Courtney Elmer 

And growing a team is very, very similar. Because most of the time, when you recognize that you need help in growing a business, it's because you've been in a season of growth, it's been on the heels of a season of forward progress, and usually a lot of pushing. But then to put that help in place, you have to pause, you have to train people up. And then together, you can grow forward again. So during that little in between time during training and onboarding, it can feel like really slow progress, or no progress, or sometimes even backwards progress. And this is what frustrates most leaders. But what you need to remember is that the process of growth isn't constant, trees don't grow all year long, there comes a season where they have to rest, they go dormant, so that they can grow again. And the same is true in growing a business. So right now, during this quarter, at the time of this recording, we're focused here internally behind the scenes, we're reinforcing our systems, we're creating some systems where there weren't any before, we're taking time to train the team so that they can be fully equipped to embrace their role and run with it for the growth that is sure to come in the months ahead. And slowly, but very surely, we are collectively starting to feel the momentum build again. And it's an incredible feeling. 

Courtney Elmer 

So what you hear inside of today's episode is just as relevant today, as it was two years ago, as it will be two years from now, thinking back to the early days of growing a business with no experience, and no budget to hire help, I had to figure out a lot of things on my own. And I can tell you this, the faster you can hone this skill of first recognizing when and where you need help. And then second, knowing how to ask for it, the faster you'll grow. There's just no other way to say it. If you feel like you've been stuck and spinning your wheels, then I want you to listen really closely to this episode and come back and re listen to it. Because I wish I had acquired this knowledge sooner than I did, because it's been the biggest game changer in growing a business. So the sooner you learn it and take action on it, the better it is for you. Outsourcing, delegating, getting support hiring staff asking for help, whatever you call it. The bottom line is this. It's a serious struggle for us high achievers to let things go. There's no shame in admitting it. We're so conditioned to believe that somehow the more we do, the more we matter. So we pile more on our plate because having a lot to do makes us feel productive, but it's just an illusion of productivity. In reality, this just makes you feel like you're underachieving. So you're never fully able to complete anything. And it's really easy to trick ourselves into thinking that we can handle it all on our own as high achieving independent entrepreneurs, and business people. 

Courtney Elmer 

After all, it's even easier to justify it telling yourself it's better or faster if you do it because you can't afford to make mistakes. But let's face it, it's not really a letting go. issue. It's a trust issue. The truth is you can only carry so much for so long. And let me be honest with you, one of the biggest secrets to my success. And also the hardest lesson for me to learn has been owning that reality that I can't do it all. None of us truly can. So if you're relating to anything I'm saying right now, here's your gentle reminder. The things your whole Holding on to are likely the things that are holding you back. Yes, it takes humility. And yes, it takes a desire to let go of your ego and learn. Let's stop proving our worth through trying to do it all, shall we it is time to maximize your income and impact without maximizing your time or effort. First things first, are you telling yourself you have to be the one doing all the things on your plate? Because you have to? Or are you telling yourself you have to do it? Because you're afraid of what will happen? If you don't? Let me ask you that, again? Are you telling yourself you have to because literally, you have to You are the only one who can sign your name on that document, for example, are you telling yourself you quote unquote, have to, because you're afraid of what will happen if you don't do it? I get it. 

Courtney Elmer 

You're working as hard as you can. And progress still feels painfully slow. You can't afford to make mistakes. And any wrong move might cost you resources that you don't have time, money, mental energy, emotional energy. That's a tough place to be. And I've been there more times than I'd like to count. So if you've been resisting outsourcing or delegating, but resent what's on your plate, it's time to flip the script. This one mindset shift will dramatically improve your productivity, you ready for it. You have to allow yourself to receive the help. You have to give yourself permission to receive it. Asking for Help isn't the issue. It's the guilt trip you're giving yourself and the ways you're beating yourself up for having to ask for it. Because of a story you're telling yourself that you should be able to handle it all. It is time that we stop playing the shame game because see, the things you're holding on to are usually the things that are holding you back. Operating and growing a business based out of fear of making a wrong move, or making a mistake that slows you down is not what you need to be afraid of. The only thing to really be afraid of is being in the exact same place one year from now as you are today.

Courtney Elmer  17:21  

And one of the ways I found it helpful to realize that not asking for help actually slows down my progress is to look at how much it's costing you to do it all yourself. The staggering cost of not asking for help and why it's not quicker to do it yourself. This is especially true when you are self employed because your time becomes so much more valuable to you than ever before lost time means lost dollars. But have you ever considered how many dollars you're losing by spending all your time doing everything? At some level, we all have this internal gauge for how much our time is worth. For example, if someone offers to pay you seven cents, for one hour of work, you'd immediately decline. Meanwhile, if someone offers to pay you $7,000 for one hour of work you would immediately accept. The problem is there's often a ton of beliefs under the surface that prevent us from acknowledging our worth and few people ever spend the time to calculate how much their time is actually worth. Now learning how to estimate how much an hour of your time is worth is really a topic for a whole nother episode, which if you're interested in hit me up over on Instagram in my DMs to let me know. So I can dive into this for you at a later time. 

Courtney Elmer 

Here's the bottom line. When you run the numbers, it is not actually faster or quicker or cheaper to do things yourself whether you sell products or services. It doesn't matter. If someone can do a job for less money per hour than you make in an hour. It saves you money and time to outsource it. My hourly rate is far more than the $15 a month it costs me to have my groceries delivered, or the $50 an hour it costs me to have my house cleaned. Yeah, sure I could spend four hours on a Saturday cleaning my house which would be the equivalent of $200. Or I could go out and make 500 to $1,000 in one hour of my time coaching clients minimum. Plus having my house cleaned by groceries delivered my meals prepped makes me happier and less stress which in turn makes my family happier and less stressed. So aside from calculating what your time is worth, you have to ask yourself what do I want to be doing in my life that I'm missing out on by operating from this belief that I have to do it all myself? Here's the thing most people's lives and growing businesses are like a bucket that's riddled with holes. They spin their wheels trying to fill the bucket yet it's a waste of energy because little do they realize that energy is just leaking out everywhere, the fix, you got to plug the holes. And to do that, you have to identify where your energy is going in the course of a day. 

Courtney Elmer 

Now the easiest way I found to keep track of where my energy is going is to save a little bit of space on my day planner to write down all the things in a day that frustrate me, or suck a lot of time, or things that I just don't enjoy. Doing. This helps me see what I need to delegate or delete all together. So I can spend my energy more intentionally, on things that give me more energy versus drain what energy I have. So first, you have to identify where your energy is leaking out. And next, you got to plug the holes, delegate, delete, automate, etc. It's not so much a money or time issue as it is an energy issue growth that depends solely on your effort will always be stunted. And that's exactly why you're here listening to me right now. So I can show you how to create a life that doesn't depend solely on your time, your energy or your effort, which are all limited resources. So start outsourcing those things that drain you so you can focus more of your energy and attention on the things that energize you and light you up. Which brings me to my next point. Despite the story, you may be telling yourself in your head, it doesn't cost a fortune to start getting little things off your plate, think of the trade off, how much happier and less stressed will you feel when that thing is off of your plate. 

Courtney Elmer 

The other thing that you may or may not have ever considered, is that hiring new team members shouldn't cost you money. It should make you money by freeing up your time to focus on the revenue generating activities and by hiring for revenue first. And here's what I mean by that. A lot of times, growing a business owners will recognize that they need help in growing a business. And what they think is okay, I'm gonna outsource or delegate the things that I hate. What's high on that list? Social media content. So usually they look at saying, Okay, how can I get a VA in here to help me with social media content? Or how can I outsource this to a social media content manager, I have made this mistake so many times, and it doesn't actually get you anywhere. Sure, it may free up a little bit of time on your plate. But at the end of the day, that is not a revenue generating position unless you are getting 100% of your leads, or a large majority of your leads from social media content. And unless that social media content manager is not just responsible for posting content, but they're responsible for nurturing people in the DMS and leading them to a point of sale, which most social media content managers don't do. So you want to look at your team and look at how you're hiring as how can I get people in place first to help me generate revenue. Maybe it's a coach to help on the delivery side, you train up a coach to help with delivery and fulfillment to free up your time to get back on the front end of growing a business in marketing and sales. Or maybe you bring someone in to help with sales

Courtney Elmer  23:11  

so that they can assist you with sales calls. Right. So looking at how you can hire for revenue first. Something that was helpful to me when I first considered outsourcing was that it can actually be looked at as a form of kindness and generosity of Pay It Forward nests, a way to give to people in your community to support their businesses and their families and put food on their table and a roof over their head and support their livelihood. Just as you want people to buy goods and services from you. So you can enjoy the same comfort. It creates a true win win. You help them they help you. I realize my time is abundant. And I'm mindful of when I choose to waste it on little tasks that don't generate revenue, like scheduling social media content posts, or building out a sales page or replying to email inquiries. Sure social media content has to get done, but not by you. Now, the excuses I hear a lot for outsourcing come in many different forms. Well, no one can do it as well as I can. Or if I outsource my social media content, then it won't get done right? Or I want it done right the first time. Or I'm the only one who can do my social media content. Right. I feel I'm the only person who can do all the things. It'll take longer for me to teach someone how to do what I need done than it would if I just did it myself. I can do it faster. If I just get it done myself. I don't have the money to hire new people. I don't have the energy to train new people. I want to focus on one thing at a time, but there's so many things that need my attention. I have a hard time letting go. I don't know about you, but can you hear how disempowering all these statements are? None of these statements are spoken from someone with the mindset of a CEO. 

Courtney Elmer 

And this is why when you learn to ask for help you move yourself from a position of disempowerment to empowerment This is is also why asking for help is a sign of strength, not a weakness. Okay, so we've covered a lot. And I hope by now we can both agree that your time is worth more than the value you're placing on it right now by doing all the things. And maybe your ego was trying to push back on me a little bit saying, No, Courtney, it is faster if I do it myself, or I actually don't have the money to hire someone to do it for me. Okay, consider this. How else? Will you get the help you need? If you don't start asking for it? If you don't allow yourself to ask for it, if what you're doing right now isn't working and you know, it isn't sustainable. Where will you be one year from now? If you keep doing the same thing, hoping for different results? What's the worst that can happen? You ask for help and get told no. You try something new and it doesn't work? What are your options? Then you can look at it and say, See, I told you so I knew it would work? And allow that decision to reinforce your old pattern of behavior and stay stuck? Or you can approach this with curiosity and ask, what if? What if I were able to get the help and support I need? What would that do for me? What would that do for growing a business? What if it doesn't work out the first time? 

Courtney Elmer 

What can I learn and apply from it so that I get a better result the next time. It's not about the resources you have. It's about how creative and resourceful you can be when it comes to getting the help you need. So first thing you want to do is recognize that you're shifting a habit, going from not asking for help or not asking for it consistently. To asking for it more often, you're actually changing a pattern of behavior, you can't just do it once and expect that it'll stick. So put some little reminders where you will see them. Keeping track of where your energy is going in a day. And how much of it is going towards things you don't like, like I described earlier, is key, then thoughtfully reviewing it, and identifying one area you want to get some help in. That's one way. Another way, is setting a reminder in your phone that goes off once a week, say maybe on Sunday, reminding yourself to look for one thing you can ask for help on this week. It takes time to rewire those neural pathways in your brain. So don't just try it once and give up. If nothing else, simply make the commitment to yourself that you're going to keep trying until it sticks. Okay, and now for the little psychology trick. I love this one. If you Google the Xerox study, you'll learn why this works so well. But I'll give you the Cliff Notes. When you go to ask someone for help. Instead of just saying that you need help tell the person why you need help. Because that key word because makes all the difference. Again, you can go on read about this study, which is really fascinating. The people that added the word because when they ask someone for help dramatically increase their chances of actually receiving that help. 

Courtney Elmer 

So I practice this with my family members when I need help. And if they're listening to this now. Well, uh, well, they know my secret, instead of saying, Hey, can you help me watch AJ sometime this week? I'll say, Hey, can you help me watch AJ for a few hours this week, because and I'll give a legitimate reason someone because I have deadlines to meet or more on my plate than usual. So I'll briefly share why I need the help, which increases my chances of getting the help that I need. Simply because of how we're wired as humans, we want to help each other yet we also want to reason for things we want to know why. This is also why other than the word know, a two year olds favorite word is why we're wired to want to know why. So use this to your advantage. It's not to manipulate anyone. It's not to somehow coerce people into helping you. It's to simply and honestly explain why you need the help, which will increase your chances of getting it and it will also help for you to clarify why you need it. 

Courtney Elmer 

Alright, so I hope this was helpful for you. No matter what stage of growing a business you are in right now that you'll be able to utilize these tips now. Or in the future or both. And if this was helpful for you, I would really appreciate if you would share this episode with a friend of yours. Share it with a friend. This helps more people out there growing our businesses get the resources that they need, so that they can get the help they need to grow a business too. Now coming up next week on the show, I'm going to continue on In this vein, and give you some hidden gems that you need to streamline your communication and increase your productivity within your team. Even if you aren't at the place yet where you've started growing a team, next week's episode will be highly relevant. Because now or in the future, it is going to save you tons of time and headache, and frustration. And by the end of that episode, you will know exactly what to do to get and keep your team communicating clearly with you and with each other, which is essential to helping you feel supported in your role as the visionary leader and it's essential to the overall growth and health of your business. That's all coming up next week. So join me back here next Tuesday. And until then, go live your EffortLESS Life®.