So when I learn about a new technique, there are a few steps that I could go through.
One is I'll decide if it actually fits in with where my business model is at.
So there's a rule of thumb here.
If you're going to do it anyway, or you should be doing it and it makes sense,
and there's a good return on energy or time or money, then yes,
it's something to put on your impact list. I keep a little impact list in my life sheet.
It's a spreadsheet that I have. An impact is a technique that I should be doing.
So let's say an example is I want to have a book. That might be the technique.
I've seen lots of my clients. In fact, the majority of clients in SilverCircle have a book
or are writing a book or getting a book done for them right now, because it makes such a difference.
So when I wanted to do a book, I was stuck. And there's no way I'm writing my own book, firstly.
Secondly, I needed help. But when I first tried to get help, I paid a lot of money
and I got so dodded, I didn't get what I was after. I spent $10,000 and my writer went AWOL.
And when she came back with it, it wasn't really remarkable. And I just put it in the bin.
So years later, I found out about Kelly Exeter. She helped me write Work Less, Make More.
And so in this case, it's outside my team's expertise. It's outside my expertise.
So I could learn how to write the book. I've got lots of great books and courses on it.
People like Laura Gale, Chandler Bolt, so they do publish good books about it.
I've learned some of the basics, but I still decided that I want some support and help
from someone external. It's not the specialism within my team, we don't do that stuff so great.
So I go outside my team and I use a contractor. And I use contractors in unison with my current team.
So if you look across the engine that drives my business, we've got the full-timers in my team
who are in Slack and that's our virtual office. And then we have external contractors who come in.
And these days, I'm far more likely to pay someone to do something.
I want to pay someone to help me with the book. I want to pay someone to help me with design.
I want to pay someone to help me with copywriting. These are things that I either can't do well,
or if I were going to do it's going to take me a long time. I pay someone to help me with paid traffic.
If I think it's something we can incorporate in our team, then we will do that.
An example of it is the little videos that we do.
We edit those and transcribe them and upload them from within our team.
Now there are people out there with services who do this like, Valher Media.
And if I didn't have my team and they weren't so good, then I'd just use a service like that.
But what happened is we actually got some ideas from a few of my clients on using captions.
We got some ideas from a few of our clients on using title bars and different sizes to make
the videos and then my team said, Boss, we can do this. We actually have the capability to do it.
And I said, Let's do it. And we brought it in-house.
Same with SEO, for example, we get help from Gert Mellak from SEOLeverage.com.
And he guides us, he gives our team the audit, he tells us what to do, he gives us progress updates.
And it's up to us then to go and do the site changes, to go and get the content rearranged.
So we actually have to implement. So I really like this hybrid of getting specialist advice.
And then having my team implement the advice where possible.
If they can't, then we'll use an external service provider to implement the thing
that is going to be either a distraction or we just don't have the capability or resource to do in-house.
But for lots of other things, we actually do it in-house and then I'll be more likely to go and buy a course.
I'll also sometimes, you'll see me ask on social media: you know,
who's the specialist for Pinterest advertising or what's a great postcard fulfillment center
in the United States? This is one of the services I offer for my clients and my revenue share partners.
When they need a resource, I go out to my own database because my customers are smart,
and they know who's good at what. And I get a lot of suggestions.
And we will go and engage one of those people for the client, the client will get in touch with them.
And of course, I'm watching what the client does. And in a few cases, I'll actually use the service too,
that's how I sort of really came to know Gert from SEOLeverage.com
because he was a member of SuperFastBusiness.
He was doing really good answers to people's questions.
One of the SuperFastBusiness members used his services and raved about it
in his private coaching and then another one, then I started recommending more,
and he was getting great feedback. And then I ended up having him help us
and I even went the next stage and became a partner in that business
because I believe in the results and what they're doing.
So for us, it's an easy one to work with.
And what I love about Slack is you can actually collaborate and bring people in to the Slack workplace.
So you can have your external contractors working with the people in your team.
Just like if you had a plumber or an electrician come to your physical office,
to update the lighting in the office, they can work with your person who's the office manager,
and you don't have to be involved in that.
So I'm actually stepping away from a lot of those interactions and the business is
still growing through a hybrid of external plus internal resources.
So I hope that gives you a little bit of understanding that how we use new tactics in
our business and how we get them implemented.