This is my second installment of the “Freedom Q&A” to celebrate this holiday weekend and the Fourth of July.

Yesterday, we focused on personal discipline to help you create freedom from your own bad habits and self-sabotage.

Today, in Part 2, I’ll share some ideas on time management & delegation…

…To help you get freedom from busywork and overwhelm so you can create more free time… and have more “whitespace” on your schedule.

Q: “Craig, how do I get clients to respect my time and understand that I can’t take random meetings with them at all hours? I need time to actually work on their projects!”

Answer:

Whether we are interior designers, personal trainers, t-shirt manufacturers, or coaches, we are here to serve our clients and our team.

But we also need to block focused time to do the BIG thinking and work that matters, otherwise we’ll find ourselves “struckling” (stuck and struggling).

Let me teach you how to “say NO.”

After all, you can’t save others when you are destroying yourself.

First, use the Perfect Week Formula to plot your ideal week.

Here’s a link to download the digital copy for free

Second, build “office hours” into the schedule where client calls can be booked. Then stick hard to those blocks and make no exceptions.

For example, explain to clients, “I’m available for calls between 11am and 4pm on Tuesday and Thursdays.”

All other time is devoted to deep work on the business (such as designing your home, coaching clients, etc.)

People will respect your time only when YOU start to respect your time.

Tell them you have meetings. And you do. With yourself.

This is also why I teach "Elevating Status and Manufacturing Celebrity" through strategic marketing and communication.

If you were the Oprah of your industry, no client would be demanding a meeting with you... instead, they would be begging you for a moment of their time...

This is a long-term strategy, but the stronger your status, the easier it is to own your days.

Q: “Craig, I need to hire some help. But I can’t afford a full time assistant. What can I do?”

Answer:

Hey listen, you don’t need to have $40,000 tucked away to hire an admin.

In this day and age, you can get people working a few hours on a few projects for $12-$15 per hour (in North America).

And simply getting someone to spend 5-10 hours on a few projects will free up a TON of time for you to focus on what really matters in your business.

So I’m sure you can afford $60 a week (5x$12) to get rid of some crap in your life.

Put up a job ad on Craigslist, Indeed, local job boards, etc., and also put up a note in your business (if applicable) or ask your clients if they know anyone looking for part-time work... and soon you’ll find the help you need.

Q: “How can I delegate more of the ‘busy work’?”

Answer:

There are two big steps.

First, to make sure you’re always doing the right things, keep this question at top of mind:

"Is this the most important thing I should be working on right now to accomplish the most important project we are trying to complete at this moment? If not, is there someone else I could have doing this?”

Spend three days logging what you do and identifying:

a) Do I need to do this?

b) Does ANYONE need to do this?

c) If I don’t need to do this, but someone else does, WHO is that someone?

In your business, ask “Who can do this for me?” more often than “How can I do this myself?”

Second, here’s how to start the delegation process:

Have a team meeting.

Tell the team all the stuff you do.

Ask them if anyone can help you with those things.

Then coach the people to do the things that they can do.

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There you have it — 3 powerful time management and delegation strategies literally anyone can use.