Re-evaluating Your Leverage

You’ve found various partners to help you get things done or move further upstream in your niche. Maybe you’ve invested in a few SaaS products to simplify running your business.

But how do you know when you cross the line from leverage saving you money to costing you money?

Jonathan and I tackle this question from multiple angles:

When automating or outsourcing tasks makes it clear that they don’t need to be done at all.

How to evaluate contractors and advisors for signs that they’re saving—vs. costing—you time and money.

How to think about out-of-pocket cost vs. your time and the complexity of your business operation.

Why you want to periodically re-evaluate your existing leverage and how it’s working for you.

The role of your mindset when working with outsiders (or paying their invoice).

Quotables

“It’s usually just making (automation leverage) simpler by shaving off stuff that apparently doesn’t need to be there.”—JS

“How do you know when you cross the line from leverage saving you money to costing you money?”—RM

“In the context of this episode, the question becomes ‘do I even need to hire anyone to do this at all?’ Like maybe I shouldn’t even be doing this anymore.”—JS

“So it’s really being aware of when someone you’re handing things off to is making your life more difficult rather than less.”—RM

“In re-evaluating places where you create leverage, I feel like systems is the one that’s the easiest. If we’re talking about SOPs and text documents, they’re so fluid and easy to update and super useful.”—JS

“Deciding to outsource something—or even thinking about outsourcing—changes how you think about things. Either you don’t miss it at all or you ask ‘why was I doing that?’”—RM

“Ask: is there a way I can optimize this in a one-time way that will produce ongoing leverage from this money that I’m spending?”—JS

“There might be something in there (SaaS upgrades) that we hadn’t considered before, that we hadn’t known was available that might make our lives so much better.”—RM