Introduction

Something I struggled with early on in my appraisal business, and that I see a lot of my business coaching clients struggle with, is overworking.

We went into business for ourselves thinking it would be better than working for someone else, but we underestimated the support we were provided.

So, we ended up having to do all of this marketing, sales, job management, accounting, and admin work ourselves.

It's exhausting!  Long days. Short or no weekends. Carving out time for getaways is really difficult.

In this article, I will boil the solution down to five relatively easy steps:

1. Get Clarity
2. Audit Tasks
3. Hire Help
4. Build SOPs
5. Rinse & Repeat

Work on each of these five steps, in order, and get some relief soon.

Get Clarity

The first step is to get some clarity on what's really going on.

It's really easy for an outsider to see, but very difficult for the business owner.

You're overworking because you're trying to do too much yourself.

You have no (or limited) staff and no one to delegate some of your tasks to.

Or, you don't feel comfortable delegating to the limited staff you have.

The first step is to snap out of it and recognize what's going on:

• You're trying to do too much
• You need to hire some people
• You need to start delegating tasks

Audit Tasks

The second step is to do a task audit.

For two weeks, carry a pad around and write down everything you do:

• Woke up
• Got Coffee
• Showered
• Dressed
• Ate Breakfast
• Drove Kids to School
• Went to Work
• Listened to Voicemails
• Processed Emails
• Quoted on RFPs in RIMS
• Scheduled Inspection
• Drove to Bowery Street Inspection
• Inspected Subject Property...

You get the drift.

Write down EVERYTHING you do for two weeks!

Then, get your task list in a spreadsheet and categorize it:

• Morning Personal Routine
• Morning Work Routine
• Marketing
• Quoting
• Job Management
• Job Research
• Job Setup
• Inspection
• Analysis & Report Writing
• Review
• Delivery
• Accounting
• Work Shutdown Routine
• Evening Personal Routine

Beside each task category, try and think of who you could delegate it to:

• Morning Personal Routine - Myself
• Morning Work Routine - Myself & Admin Assistant
• Marketing - Outsourced Marketer
• Quoting - Appraisal Manager
• Job Management - Appraisal Manager
• Job Research - Appraisal Assistant
• Job Setup - Appraisal Assistant
• Inspection - Appraisal Trainee
• Analysis & Report Writing - Appraiser
• Review - Appraisal Manager or Internal Reviewer
• Delivery - Admin Assistant
• Accounting - Outsourced Bookkeeper
• Work Shutdown Routine - Myself & Admin Assistant
• Evening Personal Routine - Myself

Hire Help

Now, make a priorized list of the new help you need to hire:

1. Admin Assistant
2. Appraisal Assistant
3. Appraisal Trainee
4. Appraiser
5. Bookkeeper
6. Marketer
7. Appraisal Manager
8. Internal Reviewer

Start with the first role, advertise, interview, hire, and train.

After an appropriate adjustment period, go on to second role.

Build SOPs

Part of your Job Descriptions is that employees will document their recurring tasks.

Have them use Loom or Descript screen recording software at their computers.

Have your Admin Assistant take transcriptions and turn them into SOPs.

Start building up role-specific operating manuals.

Later on, develop same for each department.

Rinse & Repeat

Slowly but surely, you will delegate lower-value tasks.

You will start to rise up within your own org chart.

Keep on doing until you have a management team.

Congratulations!

You're now the CEO of your organization!

Conclusion

Candidly, it took me a few years to get myself out of the hot seat.

I guess I was stubborn and a slow learner! You can do it faster.

However, once I started doing this, things got a lot easier.

I started being able to go home at 3:00 or 4:00 PM.

I didn't have to go to work on the weekends.

I could take 2 to 3 week vacations...

...without crises and interuptions!

All it took was five easy steps:

1. Get Clarity
2. Audit Tasks
3. Hire Help
4. Build SOPs
5. Rinse & Repeat

Until next time...

Here's to your success!

• Calvin Cummings
• Appraiser2X Coach
• MAI, Non-Practicing

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If you need help hiring help and systemizing your appraisal business, I can help you two ways:

1. Go to www.CalvinCummings.com and click on "Subscribe Now" for my weekly newsletter.
2. Go to the Coaching page and click on "Book a Consult" for a free 90-minute coaching session.