I recently read Who Not How by Dan Sullivan, and the lessons learned had an immediate impact on my business and my personal well-being. As a small business owner there are numerous activities that you are not interested in and may not be very good at but need to be done. I always end up doing them at the last minute and finish them feeling drained and unmotivated. I was recently struggling while learning how to use property management software for one of my rental properties when I came across this book. Right away, the value of the who not how concept, and how it applied to my situation was crystal clear.
It explains that these feelings of procrastination are an indicator of something that I should not be doing. People do their best work on things they enjoy, and are good at, and the two tend to align. When you notice that you’re consistently procrastinating on a task, try to figure out who is the right person to do that activity rather than how are you going to get it done. Someone who wants to do it will do it well and on time, allowing you to focus on your strengths. And the task will not weigh on you, draining your mental energy.
With this in mind, I reached out to the operations manager from the PM company for one of my other properties. I asked her if she is interested in a part time role managing the property management software for the rest of my portfolio. Given her expertise in the space, track record, and stellar performance this solution made perfect sense, and I couldn’t be happier with the new arrangement. She loves this type of work, is good at it, and is happy for the opportunity to make some extra money.
This may sound similar to the concept of delegation, but it’s a very different perspective. When you delegate you find someone to do a job, train them how to do the job, monitor their performance, and if they don’t do a good job, you find someone new. The Who Not How approach, is to find someone who is loves to do what you need and is already great at it. Big difference.
Grab a copy here – Who Not How
