801: Getting Over "They Can't Do it as Good as I Do" Paralysis

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I’m a creative. I am a hands-on make it from scratch kind of girl. I take great pleasure in being a creative and making things for myself and others.
All of my varied experiences in printing, newspaper, advertising - worked with some of the best tradespeople, creatives and business people I learned a lot. Plus I read just about every book and course on marketing, online communications and branding and everything communications and customer experience. I got really good over the years. I had a sharp eye and a very dialed-in knowing of customer experience.
The first eight years of business, I did everything myself.
When I started moving more into strategic work, I knew I had to find help.
Part of me was wanting all of the profits since I was making barely enough to get by and was used to it, the other was that no one was as good as me at the creative stuff.
Because I had that mindset, I kept attracting mediocre VAs, subcontractors and designers that just weren’t up to snuff. Not even close. In fact, because of my attitude about their work, I often redid what they did because I didn’t want my clients getting sub-par work, as it was a reflection of me. I really took it personally.
And then I brought back Dan Meneely. Dan is an amazing artist and graphic designer. When I worked at Marriott, I hired Dan as a junior designer on the web team. Dan was laid off shortly after I was in 2006, and we stayed in touch. I’ll never forget the first time I hired Dan as a 1099 to do a design project, it was a customer journey map for a client who was working with a Fortune 50 client on improving their customer experience.
The first project had my hands all over it. The second one, I let Dan run with it. Here’s the thing. My client was thrilled with the result. I had another client that needed branding. Normally I would have done that myself, but again I brought Dan in and he did a few designs. It was everything I had not to pick it apart because I knew I could have done better. And what Dan did was GREAT. I can’t express that strongly enough. But it wasn’t my work. I didn’t pee on that tree. But the client was happy.
It’s then that I realized that what I was best at was strategic work, helping my clients get clarity and be better organized in how they ran and marketed their business. My highest creative skill was copywriting, and I realized that I had to start focusing on what I was best at, and outsource the rest or guide my client to the outsourcing solutions.
And let me tell you, what a relief. I am so glad that I now focus on what I love to do most, where I feel I provide the best value and impact.
I still do battle with the mindset that people only want the tangible asset, the creative deliverable, the website, the logo, the copy, the lead magnet, the funnel, but I know that NONE of that will work if they don’t have the right strategic thinking, direction and objective support. That’s where I work and that’s where I have the biggest impact on my client’s getting real results.