One of the hardest things for me to do sometimes is to let go of control and turn over the reins to someone else. Because no one knows how to do things exactly the way I do, no one is exactly like me, and if I have someone else do something instead of me, it won’t come out exactly the same as if I did it. My perfectionism can get in the way of that.
This was an issue for me when my children were younger. It was hard for me to trust anyone to watch my children because what if they did things with my children that I wouldn’t do? But I loosened up there. In some ways, I was able to let go of control, but when it came to my “brand,” I just couldn’t.
I’ve talked with fellow women entrepreneurs about some of the stresses I have related to work, and they all recommended scaling up and outsourcing, but I bristled at that. What, exactly, am I outsourcing? People come to my foraging classes because they like how I teach; I can’t have anyone do that for me. People come to my blog to hear what I have to say; how can I outsource that?
But lately, my life has gotten very full. Full of good things, fortunately, between school, parenting teenagers, taking care of my house, my appointments, and everything else. To the point where I am constantly playing catch-up with this blog. And after 16 years and over 4000 posts, I’m realizing that trying to do it all on my own just isn’t sustainable anymore.
I have sponsored posts that I need to get live, and people are already waiting for me, but I can barely keep my head above water. I officially have a one-week turnaround time, but even that is usually not enough, to the point that I’m constantly apologizing to clients for running late. And the stress of writing my own posts on a regular basis, to keep churning them out so that my blog isn’t just full of sponsored posts and every three sponsored posts is one of my own… it stifles my creativity. Nothing keeps the creative juices flowing quite as much as the knowledge that if you don’t keep producing, you’ll be letting down both your readers and your clients (just kidding).
It turns what I love, writing, into an arduous chore.
So I decided that I will learn to delegate. I will be getting a team of writers to write posts here as well.
Don’t worry, I’m not going anywhere. I’ll still be writing here regularly. This simply means you’ll also get to hear from some fresh voices and perspectives alongside my own.
These writers are people who I’m paying, in full disclosure, to write quality articles of a caliber that will make you want to keep coming back to read, posts that you’ll want to share with your friends and family.
These writers are all friends of mine and readers of the blog who know the style of posts I like to have here. Engaging. Fun. Conversational. Not dry like a textbook. Posts that leave you with food for thought or inspiration. They’ll be writing on topics like frugal living, parenting, mental health, divorce, and of course, frugal recipes.
I’m actually really excited about this change here on the blog, adding some fresh new voices, perspectives, and ideas from people with different life experiences than my own.
In addition to the benefit it’ll give this blog, it’ll also give me the ability to focus on writing those posts I’m passionate and excited to write, instead of feeling like I’m just spewing out content to keep up with the rat race. Not to mention, it’ll make me feel less like I’m disappointing my clients on a regular basis.
I’ve got some great posts for you coming up. I can’t wait to share them with you.
