Guest post by licensed Right-Brain Business Plan® Facilitator Cass Mullane

Ok, it’s time to do the admin: update the website, get the social media done, add all those business cards to the mailing list, write and format the newsletter, enter the expenses and the receipts, lock down the logistics for the next event, print the handouts, upload the videos, design a new business card, post the blog, set up the calendar, and on and on and on!

How often do you sit down to do the administrative tasks related to your business and wonder, “Why am I doing this?!”

You all know the value of surrounding yourself with good people. We’re regularly reminded how smart it is and how healthy it is. Jennifer Lee calls all these people “Creative Cohorts” and I think that’s a wonderful term.

So, who’s on your team? Which of your Creative Cohorts supports you with the administrative work? Whether you’re a new business owner or you’ve had a business for years, you need to find quality people to help you get the things done that can lead your business to success. Your first step is to take a look at what you really need to outsource and figure out how much that might cost you to hire someone to do that work.

“But I can’t afford to hire anyone.” Reality check: If you’re really serious about kicking your business into gear, you cannot afford not to hire someone! Your goal here is to dedicate more of your precious time to revenue generating activities and less to non-revenue generating activities, like admin tasks.

Let’s say you want to outsource eight hours a month of the basic administrative tasks and your assistant will cost you $20/hr. That’s $160 you need to come up with to get these tasks done by someone other than you.

Here’s one way you can pay for it: Redirect your spending. This week you will likely find the money to buy coffee/tea ($10), to go to lunch ($15), to pick up extra supplies ($50), to go out to dinner ($25), to buy some stuff online ($50), and the list goes on. What if you spend your money on administrative help instead? When you add up just these few things, that’s about $150. You’re already almost to your $160 goal and you haven’t done anything except redirect where you currently spend your money.

Now take a look at what you spend on automatically billed recurring charges, like online or print subscriptions and monthly memberships, and identify what you no longer need or use. Cancel the unneeded recurring charges and that could yield another $40 or more per month. Now you can start to see a solution to a real business need. Won’t $190 buy you some support on the admin side this month?

So make a plan in 2014 to go out and hire professionals who specialize in doing the admin tasks you don’t like to do. Figure out what admin tasks are best delegated, estimate how much it will cost to hire your admin assistant and identify where you can redirect your spending to make it all happen! When you hire the right people, they’re doing what they love so they’ll more likely do a good job for you plus they’ll do it more efficiently. The benefit to you: extra hours each month to spend doing what you do best.

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Cass Mullane’s calm, comfortable approach consistently yields positive results for clients. Her business and personal coaching practice, www.ProsperCreatively.com, specializes in delivering solid left brain business skills to right brainers and creatives in a fun, visual way. She’s the author of Cool Stuff Jar which is slated for publication in Spring 2014. You can also visit Cass on Facebook. Cass is one of our licensed Right-Brain Business Plan® Facilitators.”