Do you practice what you preach?

In the errand and concierge industry we are always telling our customers to give up their to-do lists to us so that they can have more free time for themselves, but do we do the same?

When I was younger, I remember a conversation that my mom, sister, and I had. We were talking about how a person who smokes can’t tell their child not to smoke, because they are not following their own advice. The child is not going to listen because they are thinking to themselves, “Why shouldn’t I smoke? My dad (or mom) smokes. It’s really OK to smoke.”

The same thing is true with your clients. You can’t try to sell them on giving up their to-do list and enjoy life when you aren’t following that same advice. We all need time everyday to replenish our minds and bodies, even if it is a 20 minute nap, a nice, long bath, or 15 minutes to meditate.

Of course when you are first starting out there is not a lot of money to hire someone to be your right hand man to delegate everything to, but there are a few things you can do.

1. Hire a student to help around your office. Visit local colleges about offering an internship to some of their students. If you need help with your accounting, look for a student studying to be a CPA. Looking for help with your logo? Look to one of the graphic design students.

2. Barter or trade for your services. If you have a stay at home mom who is good at marketing and sales, offer free service to her in exchange for a brochure or sales kit. She gets her errands taken care of and you get some nice marketing materials.

3. Budget in for help. When you are putting together your start up budget, put together a staff budget for a part time VA or personal assistant. You can hire them by the hour or a package deal to handle some of the administrative tasks so you can spend your time networking and building relationships with potential clients.

Remember that there are leaders and followers. Lead by example.