How to Use Your Zone of Genius to Hire the Best Freelancers
Hiring a freelancer is one of the biggest (and sometimes scariest) steps bloggers and online entrepreneurs make while growing their businesses.
The mere thought of bringing on a team member usually incites a swirl of questions — and the ones my clients and students ask me about the most are:
Which tasks should I outsource?
And — this is a biggie — How can I ask someone else to do something I don’t like to do?
And my answer to both questions is always the same:
Let’s start with your Zone of Genius.
Know Your Zone of Genius
Knowing your Zone of Genius has the ability to transform how you approach running your business and building your team.
It can keep you aligned to focus on your strengths and natural abilities and relieve you of guilt for relying on your team members to handle everything else.
Because they’re working in their Zones, too!
It took me some time, but eventually, I reframed my approach to understand that MY own Zone of Genius isn’t going to be the same as my team’s Zones of Genius… and that’s a good thing.
All of a sudden, I was absolved of any guilt for asking them to do tasks I found painfully tedious — because they love the nitty-gritty details. Me? Not so much.
When it hit me that they were as happy doing the thing as I was not doing the thing, it clicked.
So, this post is all about helping you understand your Zone of Genius — and all the other zones you will pass through along the path to genius — so you can better understand where your time should be spent and which tasks are best outsourced.
Finding Your Zone of Genius
Just a note before we head into the various Zones. You may not get to the end of this post and go, A-ha! I know my Zone of Genius! Or you might.
For me, it was a process.
My career path over the last ten years looks like a winding road. Because the functions of each job don’t have much in common with each other — or where I am today.
But when I stand back and assess the talent required to be successful in each role, it all makes perfect sense.
In every role I had, I was either getting closer to discovering what my Zone of Genius was, or I was learning what my Zone of Genius definitely was not.
And both are equally critical.
Zone of Incompetence
The first zone is the Zone of Incompetence, which is pretty self-explanatory… Your Zone of Incompetence contains all the things that you aren’t good at.
For me, this looks like all things web design and graphic design.
Any time I find myself trying to make graphics and I’m struggling, I remind myself… oh yea, I am not good at this. This is my Zone of Incompetence. I need to find someone who can do this for me.
Even if you aren’t in a place to hire out the task, you can still make a note of it. Keeping a running list of all the things you want to outsource is a great way to build out the roles you need when you’re ready.
There is another method for figuring out which tasks to outsource called Process Mapping that I’ll get to in a minute.
When you’re working in your Zone of Incompetence, you may be more likely to feel guilty about passing off tasks you aren’t good at or don’t enjoy.
Until you remember that your Zone of Incompetence is someone else’s Zone of Genius.
What tasks or projects are you not getting to because you don’t know how to do them?
Zone of Competence
Next is your Zone of Competence. This zone of work contains everything you can do but there are people who are far better at those things than you.
Now, I could schedule all my social media posts, but I don’t because I hate doing it. And I shouldn’t because I procrastinate on this task forever.
Now, here’s the thing… the Zone of Competence is a trap most bloggers and digital business owners fall into because they think, “I can do it.”
And of course, you can do it. You’re capable. You’re resourceful. You’re entrepreneurial. So, of course, you can do it. But, should you be doing it?
Because the truth is… the Zone of Competence is where you’re going to find the things you need to outsource the most.
It’s easy to get help with things you aren’t good at. But it’s so much harder to outsource the things you can do.
Outsourcing some or most of the things that lie in your Zone of Competence is the secret to working in your Zone of Genius.
When you find yourself thinking… “I can do this,” that’s a sign you should add it to your list of tasks to outsource.
What are some of the things that you can do that you know you should outsource?
Zone of Excellence
Now, the Zone of Excellence is a pretty great place to be.
Your Zone of Excellence includes all the things that you are exceptionally good at. You might even be the best of the best.
But the tough part about the Zone of Excellence is that it doesn’t quite light you up the way other things do.
You might be very good at something and even enjoy it to an extent, but it’s draining. It doesn’t energize you.
That’s the big distinction between your Zone of Excellence and your Zone of Genius.
For me, a good example of my Zone of Excellence is writing. I’m good at writing. I can own that. I have a degree in English.
But the thing with writing is that it takes a lot out of me. Even though I’m very good, it’s rather draining for me. I don’t get excited to write a blog post.
But speaking, on the other hand… that lights me up. I love putting together presentations. I love preparing for podcast interviews. I love being live on Instagram. And I know that not everyone feels this way about speaking. Heck, I didn’t always feel this passionate about speaking, either.
So with all this in mind, what is in your Zone of Excellence? Where could you be holding yourself back from spending more time in your Zone of Genius because you’re in your Zone of Excellence?
Zone of Genius
Finally, there is the fourth zone. The Zone of Genius.
Your Zone of Genius is the work and topics that make you come alive. They energize you. It’s the things you look forward to doing.
Your Zone of Genius is where the magic happens.
Whether you have a good idea of your Zone of Genius or no clue, consider the questions below to help guide you to get even more specific about what you should be focusing your time and energy on:
What skills come naturally to you AND make your work meaningful?
What tasks would you never want to outsource because they’re so important and fulfilling?
What parts of your work don’t feel like work?
Why does your Zone of Genius matter when hiring freelancers?
When it comes to building your team, knowing your Zone of Genius is imperative. In fact, it’s one of the first things I ask my clients about when I work with them 1:1 to hire freelancers for their teams.
If you know what you’re really good at and are obsessed with doing in your business (aka, your Zone of Genius), it makes it so much easier to create positions that cover the other stuff.
And, it allows you to guiltlessly seek out freelancers whose OWN Zones of Genius align with the things you struggle with... like everything you don’t like, enjoy, or have time for.
This clicked for me after trying to hire freelancers who could be like a mini-me and handle all the things I handle in my business. Spoiler alert: It never worked out because my weaknesses were multiplied just as much as my strengths.
You don’t need to hire people to do the things you’re already good at and enjoy doing! You need freelancers who are proficient in the areas where you’re lacking.
Approaching hiring in this way not only fills in holes in your business but it also frees you up from feeling “bad” about handing off responsibilities you don’t want to do.
Which tasks should you outsource first?
The short answer is to focus on outsourcing your Zone of Incompetence first because it's usually the easiest place to start getting help.
If you're noticing that you're really nervous and freaked out about handing off a task, it's not the right task, or you may not be ready to outsource that work.
I think hiring support should feel like a relief, not intense anxiety.
Once you've gotten your feet wet with outsourcing, then it's best to start chipping away at outsourcing your Zone of Competence.
And if you're super comfortable outsourcing this zone, you could start here or develop a role that combines some of your Incompetence and Competence.
For example, a Social Media Manager could schedule all of your posts (Zone of Competence) and help you keep up with the trends (Zone of Incompetence).
