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This article was written by Raqhelle Millbrooks, a member of the Entrepreneur NEXT powered by Assemble content team. Entrepreneur NEXT powered by Assemble is a freelance-matching platform leading the future of work. If you’re struggling to find, vet, and hire the right freelancers for your business, Entrepreneur NEXT will help you hire the freelancers you need, exactly when you need them. From business to marketing, sales, design, finance, and technology, we have the top 3 percent of freelance experts ready to work for you.
The U.S. is an individualistic culture where Americans believe taking control of every aspect of their lives equals success. In reality, letting go of control can lean your business opportunities to reach new benefits. Everyone isn’t good at everything, and that is perfectly OK. As business leaders, learning how to delegate important projects to expert teams that are knowledgeable and trustworthy can bring unsurmountable relief. Their expert skills and accountability can provide new insight on leading your business into new markets, new branding, web-based services and company insights. Experts offer fresh eyes which see both new opportunities and potential risks while offering strategic ideas.
The benefits of hiring experts include maximizing your time and money, providing quality and valuable work, and new expansion opportunities. Experts focus on what they do best and maximize your time and investment. Not only will you save money by hiring an expert but they also hold the value you are envisioning by launching new ideas for your business. By fostering a new business relationship and expanding business growth, experts will check off that long to-do list you’ve been putting off for months.
The number one problem shared among entrepreneurs today is finding, vetting, hiring, and retaining expertise.
Even though you may be aware of the benefits of delegating extensive projects by hiring an expert, something deep down is still affecting your ability to hire them and get the job done. As an entrepreneur, you may believe you are the only person who knows your business inside and out. You took countless hours and sleepless nights perfecting your craft, building your team, pitching to investors or using your own wealth. You are the leader, the founder and you pride yourself on such a huge accomplishment. Just like a new mother, you want to protect your newborn with all your might including what the baby eats, wears and even who holds them. You want to be able to control the future of your business at every inch to ensure your hard work doesn’t’ go to waste. It’s understandable but also, exhausting. By letting go of control, you can gain new levels of influence and appreciation for your business growth by hiring experts to tackle your tasks. You may be asking yourself How do I let go of control? Is this too risky? What if I finally let go of control and everything goes down the drain?
Here are ways to let go of control to reap the benefits of expert knowledge:
Find experts you can trust by doing research.
Experts can bring quality work and expertise, yet finding the right expert to fit your culture and company will also provide better work relationships. Find the person that is credible and accountable. Review their past work to see if it will fit your vision and be the perfect match for your company goals. You wouldn’t trust a stranger with your newborn baby unless they were recommended by a family, friend, or neighbor. The biggest question — “How and where do I find someone to go to?” — relies heavily in research.
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Find companies that cater to specific industry or project niches.
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Reach out to connections on LinkedIn for recommendations on freelancers or individuals that can aid in providing knowledge for your project. Companies like Assemble do this by offering on-demand freelance talent that fit a specific need
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The killer question, how do I know I can trust this person to get the job done correctly? Is rooted first in what you should be looking for in an expert. Beyond primary skills such as time management, professionalism and communication style, you should also address the expert’s repertoire and references. Their previous work ethic, completed projects and past references will allow you to sit back and relax knowing you chose an experienced individual that will provide valuable work.
Understand your strengths and improvement opportunities.
Value and understand your own strengths. By focusing on individual strengths, business leaders can focus essentially on what they are good at. Identifying your strengths through personality aptitude tests will gauge personal improvement areas. In addition, aptitude tests can also open your mind to your leadership style, how to interact with different personalities and identifying the strengths of your group. These all lead to new ways of effective leadership that is engaging and interactive. Leaders who overextend themselves in areas they are not always the strongest in can lead to new levels of exhaustion. This exhaustion can evidently be seen in your work and even reflect onto your team. Instead think of it this way: Your own improvement points may be someone else’s strength. Don’t stress about producing results that you aren’t confident about and instead let someone else who is confident, conquer the job.
Express your fears and goals.
Your worries about hiring an expert may be rooted in fear. It is important to be honest and upfront with your fears and goals. This honesty can transcend into setting the stone for the type of business relationship you desire.
You want your expert to be aware of those nagging worries and fears so they can work toward combating them. Embracing this discomfort and expressing your fears will allow you to grow personally and professionally but also grow your business as well. By combatting fear, we can surrender our control and accomplish more.
Embrace uncertainty.
Uncertainty is inevitable in growing a business, employing a new business model or hiring an expert. Fear of uncertainty could be ultimately affecting your decision making skills and it is important to acknowledge its existence.
Uncertainty is not always easy to combat, so employ strategic solutions that are useful and practical in order to stop lingering uncertainties. When you purchase a new car, there will always be uncertainty surrounding the possibility of a potential break in or accident. By embracing this uncertainty, you can limit the number of valuable items in plain sight or purchase car insurance that will protect you and your new car. These practical solutions provide convenience and put your worries to rest. Embracing uncertainty will build powerful resilience towards ambiguous occurrences while also enhancing your strengths as a worthy business leader.
Appreciate your influence.
Business leaders constantly experience a tug-of-war with the balance of control they exert over their employees, business partners and overall leadership style. Leaders who are too overcontrolling can activate low motivation, morale, and innovation as time progresses.
Tony Robbins explains the guiding principles for control include becoming more self aware while meeting your needs in effective ways. As leaders become more self aware of their influence they also are increasingly aware of their thoughts and reactions. Instead, focusing on attitudes and decreasing controlling behavior can lead to better leadership approaches. These principles guide you as a leader to recognize the need for balance, but overall, recognize the level of influence you have with your team.
By relinquishing control, leaders can meet their needs while enhancing their level of influence. This allows them to trust experts at the best times to achieve their goals and objectives. The power of influence can drive inspiration while also pushing initiative and momentum for your team. Appreciating the power you possess as a leader can allow you to relinquish control and trust your expert to reach your strategic goals.
Your comfort zone for your business encompasses your ability to micromanage your business through various levels of control. Challenge your comfort zone and find a balance of control that focuses on trusting the experts. Experts are there to help alleviate your to do list, and can provide new opportunities for business growth that you may not be aware of. Take the plunge, let go of control, and find that expert you’ve been dreaming of.
To hire the Experts you need, exactly when you need them, visit next.entrepreneur.com to schedule a meeting with our Expert solutions team.
