5 ways to get s@#$ off your camp plate
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It’s all about kids today
New year. Same 47 (thousand) things on your plate.
Camp directors are incredible at being busy. We aren’t always amazing at getting less busy.
Remember that guilt cycle? Feel bad when doing worker bee stuff because you should be doing CEO stuff. Feel bad doing CEO stuff because emails are piling up.
Result: nothing gets done well, everything feels half-finished.
I’m really trying to think about this going into this new year. Don’t have it all figured out by any means, but desperately want to get better at it.
Here’s what I’m actually doing in 2026.
#1: Decide Your Mode Before the Day Starts
If you don’t decide what kind of day you’re having, your inbox will decide for you.
Worker Bee mode = doing the work, checking things off, responding to what’s in front of you.
CEO mode = building systems, creating assets, working on the business instead of in it.
Both matter. The problem is defaulting to worker bee because it’s easier and more immediate.
Then feeling guilty about not doing CEO work. Then feeling guilty about doing CEO work when emails pile up.
The solution: decide ahead of time.
Block CEO time on your calendar like an unmovable meeting.
Name your mode out loud: “I’m in worker bee mode until noon.”
Close email and Slack during CEO time. Actually close it.
A simple starting point: block two hours, twice a week, for CEO mode. See what happens.
CEO work is what makes worker bee work easier over time. But if you never block it, you’ll never do it.
#2: Outsourcing the Stuff I Hate
The #1 and most valuable thing I can do is be on the phone with a parent.
If I could do that all day, every day, that would be the best use of my time.
Everything else? Someone else can probably do it better.
At K&E, we use Polaris for payroll, HR, insurance paperwork, finance, bookkeeping.
Costs ~$4k/month.
But the real win isn’t just cost.
Victoria, Polaris founder, camp person, and total badass, also found $25-40k in random stupid payments we didn’t know we had. Old SaaS subscriptions. Adobe licenses no one used. Stuff that had added up over the years.
The most valuable thing: I don’t think about insurance paperwork anymore.
At Stomping Ground, that was 3+ days of work we hated and constantly put off. Stressful, annoying, uninteresting.
Now it’s just handled.
HR on boarding? Handled.
Payroll? Done.
CampMinder billing? I just get an update that it worked.
Our job is to figure out how to type less and talk more.
Camp is about human connection. The more time we spend on computers, the less time we spend doing what actually matters.
Schedule a time with Victoria. Trust me it’s worth it
#3: Hire a Virtual Assistant
There’s work that needs to get done but doesn’t need YOUR brain.
Inbox triage. Scheduling. Data entry. Research. Social media scheduling. Following up with people who haven’t responded.
The question isn’t “can I do this?”
The question is “should I be the one doing this?”
A VA costs $15-25/hour. If they save you 10 hours a week of $15/hour work and you use that time on $100/hour work like enrollment calls, donor conversations, strategic planning, you’re way ahead.
Even if you just use that time to not be exhausted, you’re ahead.
Start with stuff that has nothing to do with camp. Schedule your dentist appointment. Chase down vendor invoices. Update mailing lists.
Then expand from there.
The real barrier: most directors haven’t admitted they need help. Or they think they should be able to handle it all.
You can’t. You’re not supposed to. Get help.
Gotta admit something here. My biggest time suck right now is email, but I am afraid to let my assistant in here.
Should I let her at least draft emails? IDK. Right now I’m running just a little behind on response time.
#4: Build a Low/Medium/High Document
Your team interrupts you constantly because they don’t know when they should.
Give them a framework.
One camp pro shared this after my “Worker Bee vs CEO” newsletter. They built a document categorizing situations: Low, Medium, High.
LOW = Handle it, don’t tell me.
Parent asks about packing list? Send the link.
Camper forgot water bottle? Give them one from lost and found.
Basic supply reorder? Just do it.
MEDIUM = Handle it, tell me later.
Parent complaint about food? Respond warmly, log it, tell me at weekly check-in.
Minor facility issue? Call the repair person, tell me what happened.
Staff conflict that got resolved? Document it, bring it to our 1:1.
HIGH = Get me before acting.
Medical situation beyond first aid.
Parent wants to pull their kid.
Staff situation involving safety, harassment, or termination.
Anything involving lawyers or insurance.
Why this works: it gives your team permission to act. Most are waiting for permission.
It protects your focus time. It builds their judgment over time. It reduces the “let me just ask Jack real quick” interruptions.
But you have to actually let them handle the Low stuff. If you second-guess every decision, they’ll go back to asking you everything.
#5: Train Someone to Own an Entire Area
Delegation = “Do this task.”
Ownership = “This whole area is yours, become the expert, I trust your judgment.”
For me, I’m making VA from above our Kit expert.
Not just “help with Kit tasks.” Actually become the expert.
She learns it deeply. Gives us advice. Makes decisions. Trains others.
The goal: if another camp director asks about Kit, I can say “talk to Mariel, she’ll set you up.”
Areas you could hand off completely:
Facilities and maintenance. Email marketing. Social media. Staff recruitment. Alumni relations. Transportation logistics.
How to do it:
Pick someone with aptitude and interest.
Give them a learning mandate.
Let them make decisions, even ones you’d do differently.
Resist jumping back in.
Publicly credit them as the expert.
The hard part: you have to actually let go.
The payoff: it’s off your plate forever. Not just the tasks. The thinking. You don’t have to hold it in your brain anymore.
This has been great with Polaris, but holy s@#$ it’s hard for me to really believe it’s possible
Pick One
None of this is revolutionary. All of it is hard to actually do.
You’re not going to implement all five things in January.
Pick one. Try it this month. See if it helps.
For me, it’s Polaris, having a VA and a combo of other things above. Those are the two things making the biggest difference right now.
Your thing might be different.
But if you’re starting 2026 with the same overwhelm you had in 2025, something has to change.
You got this,
Jack
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It’s all about kids today
Jack Schott
Summer Camp Evangelist