The Control Freak’s Guide to Outsourcing for CEOs

If the thought of letting go of the reins makes you feel uneasy, this is the guide for you

“I couldn’t—I’m too much of a control freak”. “They won’t be able to do it the way I do it”. “I’ll end up doing the work anyway”. These are just some of the answers you might hear in your head if you’re met with the age-old question, “to outsource, or not to outsource?” (not that I’m biased, but the correct answer is almost always ‘yes, you should outsource’). A study by Harvard Business Review showed that CEOs work, on average, around 62.5 hours a week. That’s either just under nine hours every day with no breaks, or a four-day work-week of gruelling 15-hour shifts. Well, that’s what it would look like without outsourcing. We don’t need any official studies to see that most of us feel burnt out from time to time, that we wish we could get some sleep, maybe say “no” a bit more and above all, get a better grasp of work/life balance—which all sounds great. However, at times, the work of a CEO is unavoidable, and you feel that the business relies on you to put in the graft to keep it floating. There are so many tasks in a day to manage a business, from the tiny to the humongous, and when you try to do it all, that’s when time runs away from you. Plus, it can just be really bloody overwhelming. This is when you need to outsource admin, bring in flexible admin support, or lean on an on-demand executive assistant. Yes, I know, you like to be in control of things, but it doesn’t have to be that way. Here are some things you can do to get over your outsourcing fear…

Categorise your tasks

What are the tasks that can only be completed with your expertise? Now, what are the tasks that could be completed by someone else, but require your input? Those tasks in the latter are what can be outsourced. Sometimes it also helps to split tasks into ‘big’ and ‘small’, enjoy doing’ and ‘would rather not if I could get away with it. ’ This is where task-based support services and done-for-you business admin can make a huge difference. If you need some ideas, check out our list of the most common tasks outsourced by CEOs.

Park the ego

One of the best ways to get over fear is to be truly honest with ourselves. Is it that “no one will be able to do it the way you can” or that someone with experience could do it with an initial briefing? A professional virtual assistant or experienced EA support professional can often complete tasks just as effectively—especially repeatable admin, operational support, diary management and coordination tasks. The best way to do this is to take yourself out of the situation—what advice would you give a friend? Either that or sit down with your ‘hard truths’ friend and they’ll likely bulldoze the ego in no time.

Do your research

We live in the information age, and with the click of a button, you can have millions of case studies and opinions on outsourcing at your fingertips. To get you started, we’ve pulled together a list of 7 reads that will change how you think about outsourcing for business. Understanding how other founders use outsourced admin support, flexible team support services, and on-demand business support can make the idea feel far less intimidating.

Speak to ex-control freaks

Personal anecdotes make us feel more at ease, especially when someone’s experience is similar to ours. Find your fellow CEOs who have now mastered the art of outsourcing (but maybe struggled with it at the beginning). If you don’t know anyone off the top of your head, perhaps cast a net on LinkedIn and grab a coffee with some of those who respond. You’ll quickly realise that many people who now rely on scalable admin support once thought outsourcing would never work for them.

Work with professionals

Trust is a huge part of outsourcing, and the virtual assistant world sometimes gets a bad rep. The solution is to work with real professionals. All of our Hive Minds experts are highly skilled, dedicated personal assistants with years of experience and unique specialisms. This means you can rely on them to do an exceptional job, no matter the task. Being a great virtual assistant takes all the skills required to be a great PA—the only difference is that they’re not sitting on the desk next to you. This is the difference between random outsourcing and a premium virtual assistant service or managed EA support model.

Ask questions

If you’re outsourcing to someone—even if they are a professional—it’s like hiring for a role. If you have any burning questions about their previous experience, skills or approach to feel more comfortable about outsourcing, you are absolutely allowed to seek answers. A great curated assistant service should make the process feel collaborative, transparent and flexible from day one.

Don’t commit

If outsourcing is a fear of yours, the thought of hiring an assistant full-time must be terrifying. That’s where our Hive Minds experts come in. The whole point of Hive Minds is that it’s designed around flexibility—you can ‘hire’ one of our virtual assistants in 5-minute blocks and only pay for the time you need, without the worry of recruitment. It’s a true pay-as-you-go EA support model and a great alternative to hiring an assistant.You can dip your toe into outsourcing without committing to salaries, recruitment fees or lengthy contracts.

Give detailed briefs

Virtual Assistants love detail. When you’re outsourcing, the more information you can give, the better chance an assistant will have at completing the task in the way that you would complete it yourself (if that’s what you’d like). Clearly communicate how you like to… well, communicate. If you are a bit of a control freak at heart, things like daily check-ins and progress updates can work wonders for both you and your assistant. That’s one of the benefits of working with a dedicated virtual assistant or consistent EA support service—the relationship becomes more intuitive over time.

Give detailed feedback

Just like any new job, it takes a few days to adjust—but don’t let that put you off. When you give detailed feedback, you speed up that process tenfold, and your virtual assistant will adapt around your likes, dislikes and ways of working. It takes a little bit of time investment at the very beginning, but it’s more than worth it. Especially if your goal is to create long-term efficiencies and build reliable admin support around your business.

Most importantly, don’t give yourself too hard a time for being a control freak.

Most businesses start out with just one person doing everything (most likely you, the CEO) and that can be a challenging habit to shake.

With baby steps and a slight change in perception, you can start to free up your time, reduce overwhelm and focus on the things that actually move your business forward.

Because ultimately, the goal isn’t to do everything yourself.

It’s to stop spending your time on things someone else could do just as well.

Ready to test outsourcing without the risk?