I used to have this workaholic habit of just grinding as hard as I can.
I thought the amount of time I personally worked was the biggest determining factor in my success, but I'm realizing that the decisions I make are more important.
First, it's deciding how I spend my own time.
But I quickly get to the point where I have more ideas about things to do than I personally have time for.
Previously, my solution for this was to work faster and longer.
Recently, I'm realizing the power of outsourcing.
I don't have to do it all on my own.
There are tons of really talented people out there who can help me execute on my ideas.
For example, I hired a copywriting team recently. It's such a relief to see high-quality blog posts going up on my website without me having to be the one doing all the writing.
Outsourcing has made me more intelligent about the connection between my time and money.
I used to try to do all the work on my own to "save money." But if I can pay someone else to do it at a rate that's less than my hourly wage in the labor market, then the best way to save money is actually to hire someone else.
This has also made me more honest about the work I enjoy doing.
For example, I like creative writing more than I like cranking out SEO-optimized blog posts for specific keywords.
Creative writing isn't work to me. It's how I like to spend my time for free. But copywriting feels like work. So I can outsource the work that feels like work and keep doing the work myself that I actually enjoy doing.
In order to make all this sustainable, the outsourced work has to generate revenue at a rate that outpaces the cost of outsourcing. And it's even better if the revenue exceeds the cost by a margin large enough to cover my personal living expenses.
The key to this outsourced business model is finding arbitrage in the labor market. Two big opportunities: international talent and university talent.
So, rather than trying to do all the work on my own, the work now becomes finding people that can do the work for me. And the skill is finding people who can do the work well and managing them.
Living the E-Myth!