As company and growth marketing leaders, we are completely overwhelmed.
In trying to grow our businesses, we are all trying to do more in a day than we used to do in a week and more in a week than we used to do in a month. And we have to do all of that with fewer resources and with hiring full-time local people being more expensive than ever.
But there is a secret to how smart leaders are growing their businesses and finding more time to grow themselves. That secret can help you get back to what you are great at so you can enjoy your work more and move your company and yourself forward faster.
Why You Can’t Grow Business
In order to grow your business, you have to be able to do the following tasks:
Matter the most
AND
That you are uniquely great at doing.
But here is the problem… you certainly aren’t doing both of those things, and, like most leaders, you are probably not even doing one of them. Okay, so let’s break each of those down a bit.
Tasks that matter the most
As we look to grow our businesses, we all have to accomplish certain tasks. These tasks may or may not grow our businesses, but they are required or critical to keeping the doors open. But, often, with limited people and limited resources, those tasks fill up entire days, weeks, months, and sometimes years. So, we do just enough to keep the doors open. We may even do enough to grow our businesses a bit. But, we never have the time to grow our businesses (and ourselves) to the level we need to reach our ultimate visions, goals, and dreams.
The key is to figure out how we free up time to focus on the tasks that matter the most. In other words, the 20% of all tasks that create 80% of the positive results. At Growth Collective, we focus on Growth Marketing because, ultimately, 20% of the sales and marketing are done well. Sure, there are some businesses out there that can get by without focusing a lot of time and energy on growth marketing and sales. But, for the other 99.9% of companies, success is going to come down to how well that company can drive effective growth marketing and sales activities.
So, if you want to grow your business, you have to focus on growth marketing activities. And, if you want to really focus on growth marketing activities, you need to focus on the growth marketing activities that matter the most. You need to:
- Be able to connect with your existing customers to find out what they really need and how you can serve them better (and earn more revenue from them in doing so).
- Create thought leadership in your industry to be the experts at what you do and the first place that your target customers go to in getting their needs solved.
- Network and build relationships in your market to drive awareness, respect, and opportunities.
- Get the capital to support your growth efforts.
- Focus on certain growth areas if you are an expert in those growth areas (i.e., you are an absolute paid search superhero)
- Do all of the above while also finding the time to take care of yourself? Because, way too many good people like you are burning out and you won’t be any good to yourself, your colleagues, your business or your customers if you get to that point that you just can’t do any more work.
So, first things first, you need to get back to focusing on the things that matter the most. What are those 20% things that will drive 80% impact for your growth? Focus on those things and then delegate the rest.
What Are You Uniquely Great At Doing
Most of us spend 90% of our days doing work that we aren’t good at or are just average at. If we are lucky, we spend the other 10% of our days on things that we are uniquely great at doing. But, most of us aren’t that lucky and we spend the other 10% of our time recovering our mental and physical energy so we can continue to slog through the stuff that we aren’t that great at doing.
The key is to switch that. How do you focus on what you are uniquely great at doing? And, let me be more specific… how do you spend 90% of your day doing what you are truly and uniquely great at doing and only 10% of the day doing the things that anybody can do? If you can solve that, you will enjoy your days more, will find your energy again, and will start hopping out of bed rather than hitting the snooze button 12 times. But this isn’t just about you. It’s about your business, you, your team, and your customers. They need you. They need you to do what you are great at because that’s the only way that they are going to grow, too.
The Secret To Focusing On What Matters Most & What You Are Uniquely Great At
So, what’s the secret? It’s simple, actually. You have to delegate those tasks that:
Are getting in the way of you being able to focus on what matters the most
AND
Are you getting in the way of being able to focus on what you are uniquely great at?
That seems obvious, right? And, well it is and should be but there are a bunch of reasons why people don’t do that. Sometimes that’s a fear of letting go. Sometimes that’s the fear that you can’t find somebody that will do good work. But there are a whole host of other reasons why people don’t do this.
Reasons Why Growth Leaders Don’t Delegate Tasks
While sometimes growth leaders don’t delegate because they have a fear of letting go, we have found that there are more practical reasons why you aren’t doing so:
- You can’t afford to do so. This is, often, the biggest reason why they don’t do so. Your boss, your investors, or somebody else is telling you that you just can’t afford to delegate the 80% of tasks that drive 20% of the results. But, they expect you to somehow still be able to focus on the 20% of the tasks that drive 80% of the results. Well, this is simply impossible.
But, there is the hard reality that you might not be able to afford to hire somebody to delegate tasks to. Now, keep in mind that we focus on growth marketing. So, delegating your growth marketing tasks can get expensive.
You could hire somebody full-time in your local market. But that’s going to be expensive, and it’s getting more expensive every month. You could hire an agency and offload those tasks to an agency. But, that is also going to be expensive - you might get experts, but you are also paying a significant mark-up. You could also hire a fractional or freelance person to offload your tasks, which is often a great way to delegate certain and very specific tasks related to specific growth marketing tactics. For example, you can hire a fractional expert to do your Facebook Ads. Or, hire a fractional expert for your Influencer Marketing.
But what do you do about all of those everyday marketing tasks that you have to do but can’t find a home for? Well, right now, you tell yourself you can’t afford to hire somebody for those tasks, so you are probably doing them.
- You can’t find somebody. It’s really tough to find somebody that has the skills and that you can trust. It’s especially difficult to find those people right now. Salaries in the U.S. and Europe have expanded very quickly. And, finding the time to source, vet, hire and train somebody is another task that you just can’t add to your plate.
- You can’t train that person. It’s going to take even more time to keep that person up to speed on new skills, and they know they won’t have the time to train that person to keep up with what is needed.
- You don’t have the time. This is captured in the above, but is separate altogether - they simply don’t have the time to find that person, vet that person, hire that person and then replace that person if they turn out to not be a good fit. They don’t feel they have the time, so they just keep slogging away.
Why It’s So Important To Delegate Tasks
Again, the only way you are going to grow your business without burning yourself out in the process is to focus on:
What Matters The Most
AND
What You Are Truly Great At
So, while finding somebody that you can delegate tasks to is difficult, it’s also necessary if you want to grow. You see, there are two distinct things you have to do as a growth leader. You have to: 1) Manage the business; and 2) Growth the business. Doing this requires very different activities. And, if you don’t delegate tasks, you will be stuck managing the business and never be able to grow the business.
Delegating The Tasks To Manage Your Business
There are plenty of ways that you can delegate the tasks of managing your business. You can get an executive assistant or get a virtual assistant. There are plenty of businesses out there that can help you do that, and we encourage you to do so if the tasks you need to delegate are administrative in nature. For example, you shouldn’t be:
- Scheduling your meetings
- Doing basic administrative tasks
- Answering endless phone calls or e-mails
These are basic administrative activities that you need to do to manage your business, and there are plenty of ways to delegate those tasks.
Growth Worker: Delegating The Tasks To Help You Grow Your Business
While delegating tasks to help you manage your business is a good step, it’s even more important to help you delegate tasks to help you grow your business. That’s where a Growth Worker can help.
What You Must Grow
Let’s take another step back and think about what you have to grow. In other words, it’s not good enough to just say you have to grow your business. What does that mean that you have to grow your business?
Well, let’s break it down.
- You have to grow your revenues. This is what most people focus on. Revenue growth is the metric that people focus on and there is good reason for that. Revenue growth often shows that there is opportunity and shows momentum in a market. That’s good for investors, your teammates and the market to see.
- You have to, eventually, grow your profits. In your efforts to grow, you have to be building towards growing profitably. Sometimes, the sooner you can be profitable, the better. However, in some situations, you may want to consider pushing for growth at such a high level that you are okay with living with not being profitable. You will have to raise money in this case, but if you have a massive market, then sometimes it can make sense to push for growth over profitability.
- You have to grow your enterprise value. Your enterprise value is, ultimately, what your company is worth. This is the most important financial metric for your business. If you are growing your revenues but your enterprise value isn’t going up, then you might have a fleeting opportunity in an uninteresting market. If you are growing your revenues and losing money and your enterprise value isn’t going up, then you have to pivot to where it’s worth losing money because you have a better chance of having a higher enterprise value.
- You have to grow your people. Often lost in the above, is that you have to grow your people to accomplish any and all of the above. And, very importantly, you have to be sure you are growing yourself or you aren’t going to be able to even grow your people.
At Growth Collective, we started to see a lot of companies struggling with a way to grow, and, often, that was because the growth leaders we were talking to were stuck in doing the day-to-day and routine marketing activities. They didn’t have the time to focus on what mattered most, and they didn’t have time to focus on doing the work that they were great at. So, we started helping them embed Growth Workers in their organizations to help them grow better, faster, and more affordable.
How Delegating Tasks To A Growth Worker Can Help You Grow
As a growth leader, your job is to free up your time to focus on those growth activities that matter the most and that you are uniquely great at doing. But, if you want to be successful, you also can’t abandon the day to day growth activities so important to move your business forward. So, if you need to do those activities but should be focused on higher-value activities, what should you do?
You should hire a Growth Worker (or multiple Growth Workers) that can handle the day-to-day and routine marketing activities so you can focus on the higher value growth activities. But, hiring a Growth Worker is difficult. You can’t just give these tasks to a virtual assistant. And you probably can’t afford to hire these people locally. After all, that’s why you are taking on so many of these tasks right now.
The key is to find a Growth Worker that:
- Has the experience to be able to take over your day-to-day routine marketing tasks.
- Has the skills to do a variety of marketing tasks (more a generalist than a specialist).
- Is affordable.
- Is a full-time member of your team and works your hours.
Growth Collective now helps growth leaders leverage Growth Workers to help them grow faster, smarter, and more affordable.
Growth Marketing Activities To Delegate To A Growth Worker
Hiring a Growth Worker can help you delegate existing growth marketing tasks as well as add new ones. Some of the tasks that are perfect for delegating to a Growth Worker include:
- Social Media Management: Posting regularly to social media channels and responding to people when they speak about your business.
- Data, Analytics & Reporting: Compile reports, data and analytics to be used in your decision making and meetings.
- Keyword Research: Conduct keyword research to determine areas for opportunity in SEO and paid search.
- Competitor Tracking: Tracking competitors to determine what marketing activities they are investing in and what is working and not working for them.
- Routine Paid Search: Doing basic tweaking and adjusting of Google ads.
- E-mail Marketing: Sending out weekly newsletters and/or doing cold e-mails for lead generation.
- Affiliate Marketing: Recruiting and managing affiliates for your affiliate marketing efforts.
- Other Routine Marketing Activities: Other routine marketing activities that you should be doing daily.
Case Studies On How Companies Are Growing By Hiring A Growth Worker & Delegating Routine Growth Marketing Tasks
Below are a couple of examples of how companies are using Growth Workers to grow their businesses.
Case Study 1: E-commerce Startup That Sells Golf Apparel
Situation: A fast-growing e-commerce startup that sells golf apparel is struggling to scale its marketing efforts amidst rapid growth.
Solution: The founder hires a full-time Growth Worker to oversee social media management, content creation, and email marketing campaigns.
Outcome: The company is now more consistent with its routine growth marketing tasks. E-mails are going out more regularly, social media is done more frequently and better, and blog posts are done on a daily basis. The founder has since started focusing on retailer marketing, attending tradeshows, building partnerships, and expanding the product line. As a result, the company experiences a 50% increase in revenue within six months, propelling it to become a market leader in its niche.
Case Study 2: Professional Services Firm
Situation: A boutique law firm seeks to enhance its online presence and attract new clients in a competitive market in New York City.
Solution: The managing partner hires a Growth Worker to implement SEO best practices, launch targeted email marketing campaigns, and test Google ads.
Outcome: The managing partner now has a go to person to help test various marketing channels and focus on those channels on a daily basis. The managing partner can now focus on thought leadership initiatives, getting speaking engagements and building strategic partnerships. The firm sees a 30% surge in website traffic and the managing partner is able to have the time to solidify a strategic partner. The combination increases monthly leads by 40%.
Want To Hire A Growth Worker To Help You Grow Better, Faster & More Affordably?
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As expert growth marketing experts, the team behind Growth Collective is helping great growth leaders find full-time Growth Workers that can immediately make an impact. These Growth Workers are recruited, vetted and trained by the Growth Marketing experts at Growth Collective and then embedded within its clients’ organizations.
If you want to hire a Growth Worker, reach out to the team at Growth Collective at jacob@growthcollective.com.
