I've been challenging my assumptions about what I have to do myself and what could be better with help. It would be a waste of time and talent to limit virtual assistants to just data entry or transcription. People can do so much, and they can learn even more.

2014-02-26 Thinking about delegation and projects

Writing is one of those tricky tasks. I can't stand generic link-building, keyword-stuffing articles. You know, the ones bashed out by SEO robots or humans doing a reasonable simulation thereof. Hasty writers hodgepodge snippets from various places. They may change words just enough to avoid plagiarism, but how can they add anything to the conversation? They don't have the experience you have. They can't tell the stories you can. They have a surface understanding of your field.

Still, I'm curious. Can I outsource part of my writing without feeling like I'm breaking the promises of my blog? Can I use people's strengths instead of bumping into the weaknesses of outsourcing?

I have a personal blog, not a corporate one. I have no problems filling every day with things I'm learning. People find my writing readable. I don't need help… but maybe I can learn how to make the most of it anyway.

For example, I've started making myself delegate web research tasks. This is tough. I keep thinking, “It'll take me five to fifteen minutes to do this research myself.” I read at a blistering speed, and the research process helps me reformulate questions. It's faster. I don't have to wait.

But it turns out that delegating research means I have to be clear about what I'm looking for and how important it is to me. I can learn from other people's search keywords and summaries. And each little bit of knowledge leaves its traces on two people: the assistant and me. Before, I was the only one who learned from any research I didn't capture as blog posts. With delegation, the two of us learn, and the summary becomes something I can share.

Example web research tasks:

• Find pre-show interview tips for podcasts
• Find best practices for encouraging conference participation from female speakers

So web research is one thing that might be worth delegating, even if I think I can do it faster myself.

What about drafting and writing? One of the challenges of writing is empathizing with people who are new. When I write while I'm learning, this is easy. I struggle with the same things people struggle with. But what about the things that people ask me about, the things that I already take for granted? This is where other people's questions and words can help.

I've assigned people to write about a topic I've outlined or sketched. I like the way that my outline becomes something both recognizable and different. Here are a couple of examples:

• TOBLOG How much does it cost to get started with virtual assistants?
• TOBLOG Dealing with mistakes while delegating

I really like the way people go beyond what I might think of doing or asking on my own. For example, this Trello tutorial is funnier than I probably would have made, and I like it.

What's beyond that? Maybe more conversation. Speaking can be faster than writing. I struggle with speaking because it feels so unstructured. I'm not used to dictation yet. Maybe I'll grow into that, in time.

I've been practising through interviews and transcripts, but not a lot of people host shows. Maybe I can ask my assistants to interview me about topics. That way, we'll get a recording out of it as well (for people who prefer to listen or watch). They may ask follow-up questions that I wouldn't have come up with.

Writing through other people also helps me learn more about my individual style. When I edit their work and give them feedback, I get a better sense of how I say or organize things. Maybe the differences will inspire me to pick up tips from them, too.

$20-30 seems a lot for a blog post that I can write myself, especially if I also invest time to outline and revise it. Still, I'm intrigued by the possibilities of learning from other people's perspectives. I like the way that I can assign topics of mutual interest, so that both my assistant and I grow through writing. It's worth exploring.

What would wild success look like? During this delegation experiment, I think it would be great to get to the point where I can make a list of questions I'm curious about. Assistants dig into those questions further. They interview me and other people along the way. I review their drafts, experiment with the ideas, and enrich the drafts with stories and results. We all learn.

I think some of the promises of my blog are: I will post things that I care about. I hope some of them will be useful for you. I won't clutter your feed reader or inbox with bland, impersonal articles that you could find everywhere else. I won't resort to clickbait headlines. I'll share what I'm learning.

Maybe delegation is compatible with those promises. We'll see. Here are two posts I've written with some help:

• Don't be afraid of mistakes when delegating
• How much does it cost to get started with virtual assistants? See the card for previous versions

What do you think? Can there be an authentic way of blogging with other people's help?