Today’s e-mess comes from Ava Gosling: I have made many mistakes and learned from them over this past year essentially running everything myself. Is it a good idea to let somebody else run my brand’s social media since I feel that my time and limited energy are better used elsewhere? How do I manage my time and be more productive?

Roger Copenhaver – Branding yourself with video is important. The piece about giving away your social media is like removing some of your identity and giving it to somebody else. I would recommend giving out other parts of your business possibly to a VA. If you are your brand then you are giving away your video. Roger suggests finding something else to source out instead.

When you are your brand you can’t hire that part out. You may be able to outsource the ads, but the video still needs to be you.

What kind of planning and strategy can Ava do moving forward to find other things to take off her plate?

Lori Karpman – I am a big believer that you should be spending your time doing what you do best and what you like to do. It is best to hire someone’s expertise to help with a project you don’t know how to do. How you manage your brand is how you manage the person you outsourced the work to. They need to have a clear understanding of what your brand is. You need to spend your time on the things that are revenue producing and the things that you do best. Just because you know how to do something doesn’t mean you should be the one doing it. There is value in outsourcing activities that are going to cost you less then your revenue would be had you spent that time on a revenue-producing activity.

What is it that you do best that is how you make your living and that is what you should be doing the most of.

Alyssa – She highly suggests working in a time blocked fashion. Start your day with the things that require the most focus and attention. As the day goes on schedule things. You can block in an hour or half-hour increments whichever works best for your business. It is really important during that time that you turn off all distractions including your social media and cell phone. We often have an unrealistic expectation of what we can actually get done in a day. Make a list of 10 or fewer things so you can also have time for self-care and downtime. Time yourself with your tasks so you know exactly how much time each task actually takes.

If you are part of your brand you still need to be doing the live videos, but someone else can manage your posts, engagement, and hashtags.

Make a to-do list of everything you need to get done. Look at it in the morning and pick out 3-5 things that are the most important. You become more productive.

If you can’t accomplish three things from your list, start small. Pick one or two whatever you can achieve that day. Baby steps are better than no steps.