I was up at 3 AM

again…

(Unfortunately, I wasn’t doing

anything hot.)

I was answering customer emails.

“I can do this,” I said to myself.

And I had been doing it.

For a long time.

For some reason, I couldn’t bring

myself to hire any support. My pride

was going to be the death of me.

I had been raised to be a self-

sufficient woman - a superwoman -

and in my mind, that meant going at

it alone.

I didn’t want to inconvenience

anyone.

I didn’t want to appear weak.

I didn’t want to be rejected.

So, there I sat in the wee hours of the

morning with my computer trying to

bang through the entire customer

service inbox on my own.

The next day, I hired my very first

assistant, Alicia.

I immediately felt lighter. She was so

much better at all the things that took

me forever to do…

Customer service

Administration

Organization

Planning

Sorting out my calendar

Booking appointments

Shipping packages

Alicia took literally 20+ hours off of my shoulders per week - overnight. That’s an

entire part-time job.

After seeing how well she did everything, I realized I should have fired myself

a long time ago.

Instead, I used that 20+ hours to dream up new ways to inspire my clients. I

recorded more life-changing content. I did the things I was the BEST at.

And, my business DOUBLED that year…

Plus, I spent more time with my daughter.My health improved. My sleep

improved. My mood elevated.

The point of this story is this. The “superwoman” narrative is played out - the

one where we do it all, by ourselves, and then celebrate our exhaustion, our

overwhelm, our busy, and lack of self-care.

Instead, what if you elevated to Queen-status - inspiring everyone around you to

honor their own gifts and let go of the rest…

Here’s the Queen’s gift. It’s one you can adopt too NAME.

She delegates… That’s it.

She asks for help and then she receives it with gratitude and joy. Today, I love

being supported, just as much as I love supporting others.

I recently hired a new assistant, and her genius offsets my weakness. And, my hope is that her life will be changed forever as a result of our work together.

That’s how I think about hiring help. The person I’m hiring helps me, and I help them.

It’s a win/win, and together, we can create the most beautiful things for the people in my world - people like you, Laura. Have I told you “I love you” recently?

Just in case - I love you.

P.S. Welcome to The Elevate Issue of The Edit. You’ve got to let go of the lower

to receive the higher. You’ve got to let go of the old to receive the new. You’ve got

to ask to attract.

The Delegate to Elevate

Challenge

Today’s thought edit is more of a

challenge. I would absolutely love for

you to write down every single thing

that you do in a week. I mean it. From

washing the dishes to walking the dog

to meeting with that client.

Everything.

Then, after 7 days, I’d love for you to

get out a sheet of paper and make 3

columns… 1) Delete, 2) Delegate and

3) Delight.

In the Delete column, write all the

things that you don’t need or want to

do. Do you really need to go to that

PTA meeting? Or could you just

glance at the minutes? Does your

client really even want that report? Or

can you just brief them on your next

call? (Be on the lookout for any

“proving” energy - such as proving

that you’re a good mom, a valuable

employee, or even a good person.)

In the Delegate column, write all the

things that someone else could

honestly do better than you, either

because you hate doing the thing or

you’re just not good at it. Could your

teenager wash the dishes? Could your

coworker do that task - you know, the

one that’s actually THEIR

responsibility in the first place? (Be

on the lookout for compensation here.

Who are you protecting? What are

you compensating for? What are you

tolerating?)

Delegating is absolutely essential for

living an extraordinary life. If you try

to do every single thing on your own,

you’re working against your own

humanity. We are designed to live in

communities and to rely on each

other. We’re designed to partner,

collaborate, and synergize. That’s

what life is all about.

In the Delight column, write all the

things that you are choosing to DO,

and then guess what? Your decision is

to delight in it, because what’s the

poing in being doing something and

being miserable about it?

Try this exercise and then tell me

what happened over on Instagram

@tonyaleigh - I can’t wait to hear

about how much lighter you feel!

And an important side note: Will you be able to switch around all of these

tasks at once? Of course not. But at least you know what you’re working toward.

This will happen little by little.

The Magic of Letting Go

Jennifer Bridgman, MC500 Marketing & Media

“When I joined SOSI in June 2022, I had just carried my marketing agency through the pandemic. But by the end of all that, I was beyond exhausted and 20+lbs heavier. My work-life boundaries were almost non-existent.

There was one client whose poor conduct had become unbearable but having just struggled to hold on to every client we have, I was living in scarcity - afraid to let anyone go. Thankfully, listening to the SOSI programs over and over gave me the inspiration and tools I needed to take my power back.

With my business partner’s enthusiastic support, we recently fired that client, and the very next day after giving notice, we got a new client—out of the blue—for the very same monthly retainer we were losing from the fired client!

Here are some other helpful “red velvet rope” changes I’ve made:

Setting aside specific days for client meetings, thereby protecting other days for focused work time
Increasing our rates to attract better and more serious clients
Hiring another senior-level person to handle some of the workload and to free me up from all the meetings
Dressing up every day (no more yoga pants) even if I’m only on Zoom calls.
Setting clear boundaries on my work day and ending every day at 5 p.m.
Taking no meetings on Wednesdays, so I can have an open day for work.

My future self “The Queen” is fair and

understanding, but she also has her

own back and she stands up for

herself! I respect myself so much

more now and that carries through

into all areas of my life. Our business

has literally tripled since the

beginning of this year!

We owe a huge debt of gratitude to

Tonya Leigh and SOSI for guiding us

to this point. Without this life raft, I

would surely have drowned by now. It

helps to know we’re not alone and

that we can make powerful changes

together!”

Special note from Team SOSI:

Our next Royal Treatment workshop

is just around the corner! If you want

some Queen energy for yourself, we’ll

be sharing more very soon.

Hire Some Help This Week

There are so many services that make my life easier. If you’re spending a lot of

time on tedious tasks that someone else could do better, I challenge you to get

help.

Here are a few ideas:

Instacart - a grocery delivery service that could save you hours each week on grocery shopping alone (not to mention money on impromptu unnecessary purchases)

Task Rabbit - an online marketplace where you can hire anyone to do almost anything you need. Hourly rates vary depending on the nature of the task.

Uber - believe it or not, I will take an uber to give myself time to do phone calls and take care of little things in the backseat while I ride. Sometimes just not driving can save you a ton of time.

Indeed - The #1 way I have added hours back to my day to allow me to scale my company and enjoy my life is by hiring an executive assistant. I found my newest one on Indeed, and you can too!