In 2018 I flew to New York City to attend a one-day course from Ari Meisel, an author, podcaster, and entrepreneur. I read several of his books, which I have listed in the Book section, subsection: Intentional Life Design section. He has written several books, but the ones that resonated with me the most at that time were:
- Less Doing, More Living (2014)
- The Art of Less Doing (2016)
- The Replaceable Founder (2018)
In The Replaceable Founder, Ari elaborates on how we can learn to implement what he calls the OAO Method, which stands for Optimize, Automate, and Outsource. After years of being the bottleneck in my business, I wanted to learn how to become a replaceable founder, and I wanted more time and freedom. I loved how his method related to The 80/20 Principle, discovered by Vilfredo Pareto, an Italian economist, which I learned in depth from reading The 80/20 Principle by Richard Koch, another must-read.
If we aren’t replaceable, we become a liability instead of an asset to our business. Read that again.
We can learn to check our ego and free ourselves up to focus on the WHY of the business, let others be the WHO, and implement the HOW; everyone should be as replaceable as possible, professionally, not personally. There is indeed a distinct difference.
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Consider the following:
– Implement the OAO method: Optimize, Automate, and Outsource. This only works when done in this exact order. If you try to automate or outsource before optimizing the process first, it will not work.
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– Get to Inbox Zero: Treat email as a tool to get things done, not be on a leash to the outside world. Create a rule or a filter in your preferred email tool to archive any email with the word Unsubscribe to be archived automatically. Develop the mindset that when it comes to email, you can either Do, Delete, or Defer later. Train yourself to make better decisions using your time instead of being tethered to email.
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– Idea Capture: There are several ways to capture your ideas; write them down, screenshot them, voice notes, etc. Consider using apps like Evernote, IFTTT (If This Then That), or Zapier to save your ideas before they escape you; review them later.
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Strategic Communication: Have a reliable means of communication for you and your team (i.e., Intercom, Voxer, Slack, Zoom, Calendly, Inbox by Google, Crowdcast, and more.). Identify each team member’s peak time hour, and allow them to communicate during that time.
The remaining topics are as follows:
- Perfecting Your Process
- Idea To Achievement
- A Successful Client Case Study
- The Six Levels of Delegation
- Hiring and Onboarding
- Content Creation
- The Customer Journey
I was thoroughly impressed as I was reading this book, and Ari made things make sense. When I read the book, I had a therapy business where I did everything, as I mentioned earlier in blog posts. I also knew I was slowly phasing myself out of the profession by letting go of my contracts with home health agencies, declining new private client referrals, and transitioning to seeing my existing private clients remotely. Knowing this and that it would take a lot of time to set up and develop Transcend The Status Quo, I attempted to implement some of his methods into my personal life.
First up email. I had around five email accounts set up and decided to delete four of them. I cleaned up the inbox for the existing email to less than ten and set a rule for emails with the word Unsubscribe to go to an archive. Just as Ari said, email became much easier to manage, and I could easily see what was incoming and either deal with it, delete or defer it to a later time that suited my schedule. After reading Deep Work by Cal Newport, I created a separate email for “Transcend The Status Quo business only,” interesting@transcendthestatusquo.
If you have not noticed, I added a simple copy on the Contact tab on the site stating, “I try to protect my remaining time and energy for meaningful work and relationships, given my various roles. If you have an offer, opportunity, or introduction that may help my life become more interesting, email me at interesting@transcendthestatusquo.com.”
Doing so helps me separate personal emails from business emails, preventing unnecessary context-switching in my mind. Also, having a disclaimer helps weed out people who may need to be more serious about reaching out or have no value to offer. Email is a tool to reach others to get substantive things done, not to waste precious time and energy, so setting this additional boundary made complete sense to me.
I created a DropBox folder called, you guessed it, Idea Capture for, you know, capturing ideas. When I write things down, record a voice note, or take a screenshot of something that comes to mind or inspires me, I can quickly send it to DropBox and defer to it later. I did not automate Idea Capture until much later, but even the initial changes helped me tremendously, and I knew that I could always check back in to do so when the time was right. I just wanted to start practicing and failing forward.
I could have done better at delegating to others as I lacked experience, but I practiced doing so by hiring help building digital products and ebooks. I would develop concepts, make the outlines, write copy, and ask a trusted social media marketing agency to create graphics according to a branded media kit I saved on Canva. The feeling of being the first domino to fall in a chain of events and seeing the finished products was eye-opening and empowering. Of course, some challenges arose, but all within reason.
The same went for website design and building the digital infrastructure for lead capture, customer acquisition, landing pages, and more. Thankfully my friend and mentor created an agency to help me with these matters. All I had to do was explain what I wanted, provide the brand kit, learn to communicate my needs better, provide the digital assets and copy, and let them handle the rest. Of course, there were challenges, mainly because I needed to make subtle changes as I learned more and my vision evolved, but things worked out.
What was most exciting was that I was learning new skills and trusting others with work that mattered to me, all while building towards my dream, win or lose. With more time, trial and error, I knew that I was capable of mastering the skills Ari described in his books, and I was excited to attempt to do so in my personal life and business.
Can you relate to any of what I have shared here? Are there any components from the OAO Method that can serve you currently?
If you need to become more familiar with these concepts or have mastered them, please take some time, or share them with a friend or loved one who can benefit from them. I would have freaking loved to have someone tell me about these matters earlier in my career.
No regrets.
I’ve learned to grant myself space and be more kind to myself.
Forward, always forward.
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