Before you hire anyone, do this first.

Most small business owners skip this. Here is why it matters.

I have sat across from a lot of small business owners who are exhausted and ready to hand things off. The first thing I ask them is: can you show me what a week actually looks like for you? Most of them pause. They aren’t disorganized. They’ve just never been asked to look that closely at how they actually operate.

Before you hire a VA, a social media manager, or an ops person, do this one thing first.

Document what you actually do. Not what you think you do. Not the polished version. The real version. Every task, every decision, every thing that lives in your head and nowhere else.

Here is what happens when you skip this step:

• You bring someone in, they ask how you want things done, and you realize you have no idea how to explain it.

• You have been running on instinct and expertise for so long that your process has become invisible, even to you.

• The best support in the world cannot download your brain. That part is on you first.

Spend one week writing down everything you do as you do it. Voice memo it if writing feels like too much. Just get it out of your head and into something someone else can read.

Then you are ready to hand things off. That is when bringing in help actually works.

This is where I start with the clients I work with. Not the most exciting step, but everything else depends on it. If you are a wellness practitioner or small business owner trying to figure out where support could actually fit into your life, I would love to talk. Reply to this article, send me a message or find me at @thiswellbeinglife.