Ari Meisel | The System to Replace Yourself So Your Business Can Grow

Step 1: Optimise.

• Look at how you do what you do now.

• Capture the processes that you are going through.

• Document the process of what you are doing.
  • Record a video of you doing it.
  • Give the video to somebody and ask them to write down the steps (checklist) as they see them in the video.
  • Give the checklist to someone and ask them to perform the task.
  • Optimise the steps based on the questions the person performing the task is asking.
  • Add missing information, find what can be improved and eliminate unnecessary steps.

Step 2: Automate.

• Analyse which of the steps in the processes can be automated.

• Automate the “trigger-action” steps (if this happens then that happens).

• Use tools like Zapier to automate repeatable steps like posting on Social Media.

Step 3: Outsourcing.

• Once you optimise and automate, outsource what’s left.
  • People often have a bad experience when outsourcing because they are not good communicators, or they don’t do well when it comes to delegating.

• Make sure that you are outsourcing the right things that will have an impact.
  • Outsourcing is often the most expensive part, as you are paying for labour, rather than a machine and solving it once.

• Effectively outsource high-quality tasks that will produce high ROI (return on investment).
  • Being productive is producing more. Being efficient is producing more with less. But being effective is producing the right things.

• There are two different kinds of outsourcing – Generalists (Virtual Assistants, Admins) and Specialists (Designers, Copywriters) Find the right people for each task.
  • Even though pricing is important, don’t look for the cheapest price. The quality of the work is most important.
  • Example: Look for Customer Support from the Philippines, for designers and programmers in Eastern Europe.

• You can choose between dedicated or on-demand outsourcing.
  • Dedicated outsourcing is when you have one person as a member of your team.
    • Note! This can be a single point of failure. To avoid it, work with agencies that give you two or more people with redundancy. That way you are not dependent on one person doing the task.
  • On-demand outsourcing gives you access to much more providers of the same service.

• You can use online platforms like Fiverr (a marketplace for freelancers, the alternative is Upwork) to outsource tasks for as little as $5.
  • Suggestion: There are 5% of the freelancers that are really talented, and the rest 95% are just good enough. Make a test with a small task for $5, search and hire 3-4 people. Give the whole task to the person who stood out and delivered the best work on the test task.

• Specific outsourcing – hire specialists on specialised platforms.
  • UpCounsel is an online marketplace for legal services that enable users to find and hire attorneys.
  • Penji, DesignPickle – platforms for graphic design services.
  • Automation Agency which offers unlimited design and technical website changes and updates.

• Use the 3 circles principle to figure out what you should outsource and when.
  • Draw 3 circles on a piece of paper.
  • The first circle is for the things you are excellent at.
  • The second circle is for the things you are competent at but not excellent.
  • The third circle is for the things you are bad at, but still doing them.
  • Take a few minutes and write 3-5 things in each circle.
  • The things that you are excellent at, that is where you should be focusing on and doing the most.
  • The things you are competent at, that is typically the core team members that you need to have.
  • They need to be excellent in the things you are competent.
  • The things in the third circle are the ones you should outsource.