Infusionsoft Isn’t the Solution (or the Problem), You Are

As a long time Infusionsoft user and Infusionsoft consultant that helps people make use of the tool, I will tell you hands down that Infusionsoft isn't the end all solution to the problem.  It isn't your problem either.  Infusionsoft is a tool that helps you address things you couldn't otherwise do without it.

While you read this, I am not really all that available.  I'm on a sailboat like the one in the picture in the British Virgin Islands (BVIs) and I'm not spending too much time thinking about Infusionsoft, customers, or work.

What's my point?

After three years in business, I have figured out ways to organize parts of my business so they run without me.  I'm a little nervous about leaving for a week especially given the crummy mobile and WIFI service you get on a sailboat.   But because of the focus I have had since I started, I can do this and things will probably turn out alright.  It is one written goal of mine to take a 45-day pilgrimige across northern Spain to walk the Camino de Santiago Compostela by summer of 2016.  (Visit this site on Martin Scheen's movie, "The Way" to learn more about that one.)  That means hiking across España with little to no daily contact back home.  My company needs to be running without me by then.

Infusionsoft has helped me to do a lot of that, but that is so much less important than other things.  Take the following for example.

• Learning to hire the right people.
• Firing employees who won't or can't support you in meeting your objectives and vision.  (Putting off of firing people that you know need to go is doing you and the other person a big disservice.  Don't keep people on because you hate confrontation or because you feel bad doing so.)
• Delegating responsibilities to people and holding them responsible for the results is critical.
• Focusing your efforts on the things you do best and enjoy doing while assigning other things to people who do them best.

Notice that this list is all about (1) having the right people on your team and (2) leveraging your own or others top strengths.  It's about leadership and tools like Infusionsoft or anything else has nothing to do with it.

I've run into so many people that cannot let go.  They cling to things they insist they must do because, "It won't get done right" or "No one can do it as well as they can."  The problem is that there is only one of you.  There are only 24 hours in a day and you cannot change that.  That means these limitation we place on ourselves will put a stop to what we as individuals can accomplish.So here are three things you MUST do and do right away: 1.  Create a list of things you do best and things you don't do well or hate doing. 2. Decide who else on your team can take on those things you do poorly or hate doing. 3. Write a goal to delegate those things you do poorly or hate doing to someone else. I have to do this myself.  I do all my business' bookkeeping.  I handle billing, collections, lots of the procurement, etc. and that is not where I should be wasting my time.  It's the thing that drives me nuts especially when what I could be doing and find very enjoyable, is create design work for my client's websites, Infusionsoft workflow and campaigns, and the defining and documenting of our team's best practices.  (You don't know how much I enjoy that compared to this bookkeeping stuff. Because of the history of my business, that has always been my job, but my goal in the next six months is to get rid of all of that and make it someone else's issue. So if you're a business owner like me, I highly recommend all the benefits Infusionsoft can bring you, but more importantly get yourself in the right role so the most important person in your business is focused on what you do best.