A few weeks back, I was chatting with a woman. She was frustrated that her business wasn’t growing. As we chatted, her frustration was growing.

“I just want to research and prepare my sermons, but I’m constantly in this frustrating cycle of always on the hunt to find money. Clients don’t pay or if they do, they want a discount.”

She ended up not hiring me for mentoring and when I asked her how she was going to do things differently after our call, she said:

“Well, I’m going to finish up this webpage for my upcoming class. I’m not really sure how, so I’ll invest in a course or do a search on Google. I hear that WordPress is so easy to set up, so I’ll go with that. Then, I’m going to create a Facebook ad. I bought a course that teaches how to do this. Then, I’m hoping that enough people click on the ad so I get 20 students enrolled. If I get 20 students, that’ll give me the cash-flow to relax and focus on what I do best – being a messenger for God.”

Do you see what’s wrong with her blueprint? There’s something in what she said that represents the single reason why so many ministries and businesses are flat out broke.

Her idea of making money is to do everything herself…

Instead of focusing on getting the word out about her program (marketing), she’s going to waste time teaching herself how to do the techie stuff so she can have things ready to accept enrollments (making it happen).

This is the entirely wrong focus.

She’s losing time doing Google searches to figure out how to set up WordPress. She’s losing ALOT of money investing in training to teach herself how to set up a Facebook ad. All this because she believes that by doing everything herself, she’ll save money.

And this is the single reason why ministries and businesses are broke – they haven’t learned the art of outsourcing.

Time does not provide a good return on investment…

We may think that staying busy and putting “time” into our businesses and ministries will net a fabulous return on investment. But if you invest time, the only thing you can expect in return is, well, time:

• Time that people spent to listen to your teleclass (but not taking action on your offer).
• Time that people spent looking at your webpage (but not taking action to invest in your program).
• Time that people spent signing up (then unsubscribing) from your email list (but not taking action on your upsell).

Money is in a continuous cycle…

I hate using the words “spending,” “saving,” or “debt management.” These words focus on lack, survival and insufficiency. Instead, I like to look at money as a continuous flow where you receive and release it. The constant flow of money reminds me that I’m simply a conduit of the financial resources that God has already blessed me with.

When you’re not operating in faith, you let the money “dam up.” You horde it thinking that nothing more will come in. Because the money is stuck, you can’t receive the financial blessing God has for you because your vessel is full.

If you release money, it will flow back to you.

That’s what God promises to us. In the story of the widow in 2 Kings 4, the widow’s vessels were filled with oil due to her faith. She had to get vessels from her neighbours in order to capture the amount of oil God blessed her with. After each vessel was filled, the widow sold it and used the money to pay off debts.

This happened all due to her faith. She received money in the form of oil, then she released it to receive money to handle her business. She didn’t horde the oil, thinking she’d never get more. Instead, she released her abundance (the oil), then received compensation in return (the money).

That’s why you need to release money by hiring help….

There are others out there who are experts in the very thing you’re trying to teach yourself.  They can get done in  a fraction of the time what will take you weeks to learn.

When you do tasks in your ministry or business that you don’t know or you actually hate to do, you don’t have the energy to focus on what God has called you to do. Because of your experiences and wisdom, only YOU can deliver the message that God has given to you, but you’re robbing God of your gift because you’re focusing on the wrong things.

Plus, when you continue to do tasks that you hate, you’re robbing someone of their joy. There are people out there who LOVE the very tasks that you can’t stand to do.

Release your money by hiring help and watch as God blesses you with more so you can be in a place of peace, ease and alignment.

Outsourcing and delegating the tasks you don’t like or don’t know is accessible – even if you have a small budget…

I’ll explain in follow-up posts how you can start to outsource tasks you do not like for as little as $12/hour. But first, I’ll share some of the myths that many ministry leaders and business owners have about outsourcing starting in just a couple of days.

Are you currently outsourcing or delegating any tasks in your ministry or business?

If yes, share your successes below. If no, do share your fears or concerns below.