Are you a solopreneur, building your business with nothing but your own sweat equity?

Do you wish you had help but have no idea how you would be able to afford it?

Listen to This Episode

In today’s podcast episode, we discuss the steps you can take today to build a team, even if your budget leaves a lot to be desired.

Inside This Episode

Building an online business takes a whole lot of work – just like any other business.

When I started my online business, it was all me, and nobody else but me. And let me tell you – it took a toll on me, to the point that I actually quit.

Fortunately, the game wasn’t over. I eventually got back at it, and when I did – I knew I had to play smarter.

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How To Build A Team On A Budget

After reading books like The 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferris, I decided that I was going to start getting help.

I hired my first virtual assistant and my business has never been the same.

Unfortunately, many people never even consider getting help because of the costs they think are associated with doing so.

Over the years, I’ve come to realize that there are ways to build a team without having to invest as much as you think.

One of my goals for 2015 is to build a bigger team and I’m going to outline the process I’m going through right now – one that I believe can be done even on relatively small budgets.

Here are the 3 stages:

Stage 1 – Create a Budget

Before you can really go out there and get the right people, you need to decide how much you can afford to spend.

Knowing this will guide you as to how much help you can get initially, and give you a foundation on which you can build.

Stage 2 – Construct your future dream team

In a perfect world, what would your dream team look like? Having a clear picture of this will give you a clear target to shoot for. I encourage you to do this in 3 steps:

  • Create a list of all of the tasks that need to be done in your business. Include the tasks you wish could be done but don’t have the resources to do as yet.
  • Categorize them like this:
    • Tasks that only you absolutely have to do
    • Tasks that can do but shouldn't
    • Tasks that you hate doing
  • Who are the people you need on your team to do all of the tasks

Stage 3 – Start building your team

Now that you have an idea of what your dream team looks like and you also know what your budget is, I want you to focus on the team member that would make the biggest difference in your time.

If, for example – you are spending a lot of time creating images for your posts and that time can be better spent creating content, get someone to create those images for you.

You can use a site like Odesk to find someone really good at an affordable price and just may be surprised at how much you can get done for a relatively small amount of money.

For more ideas on how to do this, see my post on How to Outsource For your Blog Effectively and Affordably.

To do this right you will need to:

  • Be extremely clear on what that individual’s role is
  • Communicate that clearly with the individual. It’s a great idea to create operations manuals to give clear guidance. Check out my original operations manuals (Feel free to modify and use them for yourself).
  • Start with smaller tasks and build over time

By focusing on the role that will save you the greatest amount of time, you will be freeing up time that you can use to build your business.

The more your business grows, the more you can invest into building a bigger team.

Tips for Saving Money

  • Tip #1 – Consider outsourcing to foreign individuals (i.e. the Philippines).
  • Tip #2 – Consider bartering
  • Tip #3 – Leverage pre-built affordable teams like WP Curve

Why you should listen

These show notes give you a good idea of what’s covered in the podcast episode. However, I go into more details and give more specific examples.

If you are looking to build a team, you should definitely have a listen.

Question for you

What is the one thing you can outsource today that will save you the most amount of time in your blogging business?

Let me know in the comments section below.

Resources Mentioned

  • Odesk – Where I find almost all of my help
  • WP Curve – Outsource all of your WordPress-related issues for $69/month

Transcript

Some people prefer to read along with the podcast episode. Others actually prefer to read than listen. If you are one of those people, not to worry. I’ve got a transcript right here for you 🙂

Click here to download transcript.

About The Podcast

Learning With Leslie

Learning With Leslie is a podcast dedicated to helping you build a business around a blog. No, not one of those blogs that will fall by the wayside when Google has a mood swing, but one that will thrive no matter what gets thrown at it.

I share tips and strategies that I’ve learnt building blogs since 2008 and interview experts who are knowledgable about various aspects of blogging so that we can learn from their experiences.

If you’re a blogger, thinking about becoming a blogger (pun intended) or are not even sure if blogging is right for you, go ahead and tune in to see what this blogging thing is all about.

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About the Author Leslie Samuel


Leslie Samuel a business coach for high-performing entrepreneurs. As the host of the Leslie Samuel Show, he teaches how to build an online business. "Changing the world one post at a time” is the mission he strives towards. As a former university professor, he has a passion for education. He's the founder of Interactive Biology, a blog and YouTube channel dedicated to making biology fun for students and teachers. As the head of training for the Social Media Marketing Society, he helps social media marketers get the training they need to stay on the leading edge of social media.

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