We just paid a 15-year-old $300 to pull weeds.
As I sent the Venmo to his dad, he texted me:
“Are you sure? That’s very, very generous. He did not expect that much.”
I replied:
“Yep. What-the-Hec and I had already agreed on $20 an hour. We pay based on value, and this was valuable to us.”
His son is raising money for his traveling soccer team and spent nearly 15 hours in the hot sun pulling weeds.
Hard work.
Dirty work.
And honestly…
Work neither Hector nor I wanted to do.
It reminded me of something Beth Azor, The Canvassing Queen, says:
“If you don’t have an admin assistant, you are the admin assistant.”
I’d take it one step further.
If you don’t have someone doing the work you shouldn’t be doing…
You’re the one doing it.
Every business has “weed-pulling” tasks.
The emails.
The admin work.
The errands.
The repetitive tasks.
Necessary?
Absolutely.
But not always the highest and best use of your time.
Just Because You Can Doesn't Mean You Should
Before someone says,
“Not everyone can afford to outsource.”
I get it.
We’ve all been there.
But every small business owner eventually reaches a point where doing everything themselves becomes the biggest obstacle to growth.
The question changes.
It stops being:
“Can I do this?”
And becomes:
“Should I be the one doing this?”
Those are two very different questions.
Delegation Is a Growth Strategy
Delegation isn’t about avoiding work.
It’s about intentionally assigning tasks to the person best equipped to do them so you can focus on the work that creates the greatest value for your business.
That’s how businesses scale.
Not by working more hours.
But by spending your hours where they have the greatest impact.
The best CEOs don’t do everything.
They make sure everything gets done.
The Cost of Doing Everything Yourself
Could I have spent 15 hours pulling weeds?
Absolutely.
Should I have?
Absolutely not.
Not if those same 15 hours could have been spent serving clients.
Creating content.
Meeting prospects.
Building relationships.
Growing the business.
The weeds still needed to be pulled.
The question wasn’t whether the work mattered.
The question was:
Who was the right person to do it?
Work on the Business, Not Just in It
Sometimes the smartest investment isn’t another software subscription.
It isn’t another AI tool.
It isn’t another marketing platform.
Sometimes it’s paying someone else to do the work that keeps you from doing yours.
The weeds still got pulled.
The difference is…
Those 15 hours were spent growing the business instead.
That’s the return on investment you don’t always see on a spreadsheet.
But you’ll absolutely see it over time.
Deuces,