how to avoid overcommitting yourself

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Overcommitting YourselfEpisode 11

www.stretchgoals.fm/ep11

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Challenge yourself to create ambitious goals as you start and grow your business.

Episode 11 - Overcommitting Yourself

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Robert Dickerson

Robert is the Founder and CEO of Mapout a mobile learning platform that uses video courses to educate customers and train employees. He helps companies develop and launch

products.

Scott Davis

Scott Davis is the Founder and CEO of MobX, a mobile development software agency. He has 20 years of experience developing software for Government, Finance, Sports and the

Telecommunications industry.

@RobDickersonJr @The_Scott_Davis



https://mapoutlearning.com/

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Over committing yourself in your business affects the quality of your work, the

relationships with your customers, and really puts stress on you and your team.



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How do you compensate and

leverage your team to avoid

over committing yourself?



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“Let us know what we can do better, let us know what you'd like to see on the podcast,

share it with your friends, share it with people who you think could benefit from some of our

experiences and insight.”

- Scott Davis



Thank you for listening!

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“That's something that I struggle with every day, trying to remove myself from the mix.”

- Robert Dickerson

“You've only got so many hours in the day and so much time to allocate. That means that you've got

to be able to not spread yourself too thin.

- Scott Davis



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A freelancer uses their time to make money.

An entrepreneur uses their time and other people's’ time to make money.



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If you do spread yourself too

thin...

...it’s time to allocate your

resources a little bit differently.



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How do we not overcommit?



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You’re passionate about your idea and you want to be involved in everything.

You can’t always do that.



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“You try to keep in the backlog more projects than you can handle, to make sure that during those

times where things slow down, you still have enough work in the backlog. But then I ended up

over committing myself.”

- Robert Dickerson



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“I think when people are transitioning from the 9:00 to 5:00 corporate environment, you see that a lot. They've got all this business built up, and they've potentially overcommitted, and they're stressed.”

- Scott Davis



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Avoid overcommitting● Do quality work and trust that people will come back to you● Don’t constantly try to pull in new work● Practice saying “no”● Turn away projects● Determine whether the work aligns with your business

“If the work doesn't align with the direction of your business, you need to be upfront and say ‘no’.”

- Robert Dickerson



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Establish clear timelines



Set Expectations

"Hey, I really want to work on this. Timelines are tight. I need about three weeks until I can help you out with this."

Let your team do the work

Review the final deliverable

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“If you set the expectation that you've got handpicked resources that are under your

mentorship . . . then I think they will still want to work with you.”

- Scott Davis



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Be honest with yourself about your capacity.



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Transitioning work to your team1. Start slow2. Begin with an existing customer3. Communicate who will be doing the work and your role4. Serve as their point of contact

“Hey, I don't have time to do this work personally, but I can bring on somebody from my team to take care of it. I'll supervise, I'll watch over

them to make sure the deliverable gets done.”

- Robert Dickerson



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“Look, here's the situation. We're really trying to expand, we're really trying to do these different things. We've got a great project opportunity. I'd

like to shift some of that work from myself over to someone on my team, and we'd like to try it out

with you first.”

- Scott Davis



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Getting your team involved

with your customers is

really beneficial.



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Better use of your time

Reasons To Get Your Team Involved

Stronger relationships with customers

Another set of ears and eyes

Less information lost in translation

Increased investment

They will pick up on things you miss



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“Set the context for your team and don’t micromanage them on a day-to-day basis.

That can also lead to stress and over committing yourself.”

- Robert Dickerson



Set the high-level context for your team

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Empower your team to lead for you.



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You want to hire somebody that’s smarter

than you.

Let them do what they’re

good at and get the hell out of

the way.



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“I see people who hire people who are not as smart as them for a purpose, because they want to

control them. That's your micromanager, that's your egotistical type.”

- Scott Davis



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Customer deadlines● Create flexible estimates● Add ⅓ on top of your initial estimate● Remember that “Things come up.”● Be realistic

It’s always better to deliver ahead of time than late.



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Public deadlines● Communicate frequently and early● Recognize potential impacts● Invest more resources if it makes sense● Back down features and scope



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Don’t set your deadline to their deadline.



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Remove yourself as a

blocker

Offload work to your team

Help your team be

accountable



Avoid Overcommitting Yourself

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Let us know strategies you’ve found helpful to avoid overcommitting yourself.


@TheScottDavis @RobDickersonJr


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Let us know what we can do better.

Give us a rating on iTunes.Thank you so much for listening.

stretchgoals.fm



https://stretchgoals.fm

https://stretchgoals.fm

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www.stretchgoals.fm

how to avoid overcommitting yourself

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