I said that outsourcing was the absolute dogs danglies – and I stand by that completely. To be completely honest though I am suffering a slight hangover after the “champagne high” of finally ridding myself of all those terrible sloggy tasks. The thing is, in the last few weeks I’ve been feeling a little ummm…. lost!
I’ve Only Just Realised
I didn’t notice this earlier on in the year thanks to the wholesale destruction and reconstruction of my home not 3 metres from my office – I was just greatful progress was still being made and my feeble firefighting attempts seemed to keep the business just about plodding along in the administrative sense. The almost palpable noise of the money whizzing from my bank account was distraction enough without me having to hear the actual mechanics of change as well.
I’ve Been Feeling a Little Disjointed Without Knowing Why…
I used to measure my progress and reassure myself I was working hard enough based upon how many articles I was writing in a day, plus an hour or two of PPC, and the crossing off of at least 4 minor tasks on my to do list or 4 major ones. The main thrust was always around getting those new pages up and published – content makes the affiliate world go around after all.
But Now What?
My role has become a lot more nebulous in my mind and I’m suffering from terrible guilt because I don’t have any measurable benchmarks by which to define what I consider to be a good days work.
Damn this Scottish work ethic to hell and all the way back I say. I can just about hear several dozen of you thinking “what on earth is this silly girl’s problem?? She’s living the affiliate dream!!”
Creating Some Benchmarks
The ultimate thing I’m working towards is 1 ) A realisation of where I want to be with the business, and how I’ll get there. 2 ) A strategy for me to be able to implement more of my ideas without spreading myself too thin. 3 ) Keep running and developing ideas on my current sites whilst 1 & 2 are running through my mind.
Back to The Structured Day…
I’m going to have to resurrect my affiliate day planner and block off sections of the day for different types of task, thus giving myself permission to do the research that will ultimately make the business stronger and saving myself a lot of guilt about it not being proper work.
Don’t Say It, I Already Know…
I’m a bit odd, I’ll be the first to admit that my mind is unique and possibly bewildering. Do try to feel sympathetic. I have to live with it all the time – you guys only have to put up with selected snippets!
On the plus side, it’s never dull being me 
August 6th, 2010 at 10:43 am
I too have been outsourcing more and more these past weeks, however the first couple of weeks is finding someone who does good work.. you spend a lot of time ‘interviewing’ and dismissing but its certainly making my life more productive.
August 6th, 2010 at 11:26 am
You say odd, I say exceptional. Always liked the way your mind works K.
August 6th, 2010 at 11:28 am
Hi Kirsty
You definatly are not weird – I am very similar to you in many ways that you mentioned in this post. I also suffer from the guilt, and I cannot even allow myself to outsource some aspects of my work – daft really lol !
August 6th, 2010 at 1:26 pm
Sounds ideal, you got more time to evaluate what is and isn’t working and change accordingly. This is something I don’t have time for. Not to mention researching new avenues and testing.
August 6th, 2010 at 11:24 pm
There is nothing that bring the motivation back more like a new project?
August 7th, 2010 at 10:07 am
It sounds like you’ve done a tremendous job of getting yourself in to a position where you have control over your time. That’s a great achievement and enjoy ever moment!
August 9th, 2010 at 11:50 pm
Hey everyone, thanks for all the great comments. I am very pleased with what outsourcing has achieved for me and my business.
Dom – it’s good to hear you’re dipping a toe into outsourcing as well and having a good experience after all thats involved in setting it up. I think I saw you talking about being very happy with the quality of work on Twitter.
Frank – yes, I suffered from “outsourcing guilt” at the thought of letting go on some tasks. Despite it still causing me some guilt issues I do know it’s the best thing I ever did.
Mansoor – hmmm, I think another project is probably exactly what I don’t need. I’m currently thinking about my financial aims for the next 2 years and have worked out the sites I currently have running will be enough to get me 80% of the way there. The other 20%? I think I already know what I’ll do, but it’ll need a few quid to get it kicked off!