My office neighbor runs an e-commerce start up and rents out a desk where I work. This morning I noticed a pair of business books on his desk; Always Be Testing: The Complete Guide to Google Website Optimizer and Landing Page Optimization: The Definitive Guide to Testing and Tuning for Conversions.

I felt my face pucker and my butt clench, as if I had just tasted milk two days past its prime. My entire body had rejected those titles.

Why the repulsive response? I wondered.

I decided to press myself for answers.

Here is what I discovered:
While I love coming up with creative marketing ideas, when it comes to gathering and analyzing data I rather fold and catch the next game. But without gathering and analyzing results, spending valuable resources on marketing is like opening all the doors in your house, blasting the heat, and then wondering why your bill is so high yet you’re still cold.

Inevitably you will come across tasks you do not enjoy doing but know have to get done.

Skipping them entirely is not an option, so try this:

1. Take the time to understand the task; what are the key steps involved, how do you measure success, what are the costs, etc., and then
2. Delegate! Find someone you trust will do a good job, provide clear expectations, measurements for success, time frame and a system of accountability, and you’re golden!

Chances are the task will get done better by someone who enjoys doing it.
I’ve used this strategy and it’s worked great.

Many years back when I ran the Global Exchange Online Store, Adwords was all the rage. So I took an intensive Adwords course, read everything I could by Adwords pros and learned enough about it to understand how to run a successful campaign.

I also learned enough to know that if I ran that campaign it would fail miserably, because its success relied 95% upon compiling &  categorizing results (which you now know I can’t stand doing), analyzing the data and adjusting ads accordingly.

So I outsourced our Adwords campaign to someone I trusted and required weekly spreadsheets with summaries of key data. I was able to make informed strategic decisions based on those reports. I knew exactly where I was making money and losing money, what keywords to pause and what keywords to expand upon. You get the idea.

I’m starting to really believe that truly successful business people do not do everything themselves; they surround themselves with people who are good at what they do.

Work smarter, not harder.