This is Part 1 of a 3-part series.

If you think back to when you started your business, I’m pretty sure you didn’t say “I really want to go into business for myself because I love all those day to day grinding tasks, all that tech stuff I have to learn and oh yes, always wanted to waste a ton of time learning how to build my own website”.

You can stop reading if I’m wrong.

But I imagine the reasons for starting your own business, and what you wanted to DO in that business are at a much higher level than that. You want to focus on what’s REALLY important – your vision, your mission.

And maybe, just maybe, you’d like to have some time left over for *gasp* non-business things. After all, what’s the point of having the flexibility of having your own business if you’re working all the time right?

So that’s what we’re going to cover in this 3 part article series. How to create true leverage in your business – so both your business and your life are better. Stronger. More fun!

So here’s where you start:

Think BIGGER.

Most people focus on making themselves more productive. More effective. They focus on learning more and doing more themselves.

Well, I hate to crush your dreams but no matter how effective, or productive YOU are, you will never get more than 24 hours a day.

To you, time is a very fixed, limited resource. But fortunately, your business is NOT you.

Now all too many solopreneurs THINK the business is them, and that’s where we need to start thinking bigger. Your business is a separate entity from you. And to your business, time is a VERY scalable resource. Time is available from people all over the world.

Your business can have as many hours in a day as it needs.

Think about that.

And while this may seem like common sense, ask yourself – are you actually APPLYING that insight?

For most entrepreneurs – they aren’t. So if you aren’t, you’re definitely not alone.

But let’s discuss what’s at stake here by NOT thinking bigger.

According to the US Census Bureau (yes, they track a lot more stats than just population), there are 22,491,080 solopreneurs in the US.

They average a mere $45,687.79 in annual income.

Think back to when you started your business again – pretty sure you weren’t thinking that was an exciting annual income right?

But wait – there’s more!

And it’s WORSE…

The average solopreneur works 70 hours a week!

That’s 12 hours a day, 5 days a week PLUS 10 more hours on the weekend.

Now that’s what I call depressing!

But let’s look a little further.

Into the next group up…

What I’m going to call “Super Small Businesses”

There are 5,217,507 of them.

They average $457,205.35 in annual income. That’s over TEN TIMES the annual income.

And here’s the kicker:

They only do 180 hours a week to receive that.

That’s you plus some part timers.

That’s it!

It’s like a case of 1 plus 1 equaling 11.

And this makes sense right?

Look around you.

I dare you to name ONE person who is succeeding at a high level with their business who does it ALL themselves. Go ahead, name one. Name any expert, speaker, author, business person, whatever that does everything themselves.

They built their own website, they handle all their own customer service, they create their own graphics, etc, etc, etc.

You can’t can you?

It’s because that person does NOT exist.

It’s not possible in today’s world, with a mere 24 hours in a day to make that happen.

And YOU will not be that exception.

So before we get to Article #2 and dive into some practical ways to move your business forward through leverage, and NOT putting everything on you, let’s wrap up with two BIG takeaways from today’s article.

#1 No one succeeds alone unless you really do just want a JOB And in case you weren’t aware, “JOB” is actually an acronym – it stands for “Just Over Broke”

And #2… The TEAM comes first. It’s the TEAM that creates those 10x results every business owner wants and needs.

You can NOT create the 10x results then hire the team. Life just does not work that way.

Hopefully at this point your mindset has been shifted a bit, and you’re already thinking bigger about your business and YOUR role as the president or CEO of your business. Even if it’s YOUR skills, experience or actions that are the foundation of the business, there are still plenty of other things your business needs to succeed that do NOT have to be on you.

Especially all that techie stuff!

Chew on that and I’ll see you in article #2!

Ric Thompson is a parallel entrepreneur, speaker and author who has started, bought and sold multiple businesses both online and off. One of his books, Outsource This Now: How to Triple Your Profits Through Smart Outsourcing was a #1 Bestseller on Amazon in Technology Outsourcing. His current focus is on his company Done For You Solutions where he provides entrepreneurs and small business owners access to a full virtual team to get a lot more done in their business.

Other Parts:

• Delegate The Techie Stuff, Part 2: Create Your “To Have Done” List
• Delegate The Techie Stuff, Part 3: Start Delegating