The Tripod Method: Delegate 10 Hours of Work This Week – Justin Lund

Are you feeling trapped inside your own accounting business, working endless hours but struggling to scale? Many accounting professionals hit a capacity ceiling where they are working extreme hours but feel completely stuck in their business growth. Enter Justin Lund, a serial entrepreneur who successfully built and scaled six companies. Justin achieved his success not by simply grinding harder, but by mastering the art of delegation and stepping out of the day-to-day minutia.

The “Owner’s Trap” (And Why More Accountants Isn’t the Answer)

The “Owner’s Trap” is that feeling of being stretched thin, constantly putting out fires, and hitting a ceiling where trying to get more done is no longer a viable solution.

When feeling this pressure, a common fallacy in the accounting industry is believing the only way to scale is to immediately hire another high-level accountant. However, hiring another accountant can actually add to the business burden because you now have to secure twice as many clients to cover their higher pay grade. Instead of scrambling to put out the next fire, it is far more effective to build your delegation muscles by getting rid of non-accounting tasks first.

How to Calculate Your True Hourly Worth

The foundational step to effective delegation is understanding the exact financial value of your time.

• Justin’s Formula: Take your gross margin and divide it by your full-time work hours (e.g., 2,080 hours for a 40-hour work week) to find your true hourly rate.

• Roger’s 2.5x Rule: Alternatively, take the average W2 wage for your specific role and multiply it by 2.5 to account for overhead, taxes, and benefits.

Once you have this number, try the “payline” exercise: Draw a line across the middle of a piece of paper, write your hourly worth at the top, and list all the tasks you did last week that fall below that monetary value.

The Hidden Emotional Cost of Low-Value Tasks

Doing low-value tasks doesn’t just waste your time; it drains your spirit. Justin shares the story of a highly successful CEO whose time was worth $400 an hour, yet she was caught cleaning her office on a Saturday afternoon.

Performing tasks outside your core expertise creates emotional drudgery, frustration, and burnout. Handing off these low-value tasks to someone who can do them efficiently and happily allows you to reclaim your revenue-generating energy and show up to your next client meeting as a more fulfilled entrepreneur.

The Tripod Method (How to Create Quick SOPs)

The main objection to delegation is the trap of thinking, “It will take me more time to explain and train someone than to just do it myself”. To bypass this, Justin introduces “The Tripod Method”.

Here is how it works:

1. Keep a phone tripod on your desk.

2. The next time you perform a repetitive, low-value task, put your phone on the tripod and hit record.

3. Narrate every single step out loud as you do it, explaining exactly what you are clicking, measuring, or documenting.

This quick video can easily be handed off to an assistant or virtual team member to serve as an instant Standard Operating Procedure (SOP), playlist, or checklist.

Conclusion & Next Steps

Challenge yourself to use the Tripod Method this week to document and delegate just 5 to 10 hours of low-value work. You will be amazed at how quickly you can regain your time and peace of mind.

Watch the Full Episode: Catch the complete conversation with Justin Lund on YouTube to learn more about escaping the owner’s trap.

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