I work too much. At least, that’s what my wife says. It’s not healthy for me and can strain my personal relationships.
Why can’t people understand how much time and effort it takes to build and operate a small business?
Can I help you convince your loved ones that 80 hour weeks are ok?
Nope – for two reasons:
- I just don’t have that kind of influence
- Working that much simply isn’t healthy (as is so often the case… my wife is right)
Delegation is getting easier and our options as small business owners are broadening! Read on for some quick tips that can help you embrace delegation and get some of your time back.
There’s no question that there is work that needs to get done and for small business owners it’s always more than we can possibly do. To make matters worse there’s usually stuff that needs to get done to improve our bottom line that we’re not doing at all because we either don’t know or really can’t make the time.
Ever feel like your hands are tied and you’re trying to tread water? Me too!
We’re not going to solve this overnight but here are some things to think about that can help get your delegation started or prompt you to delegate some more.
Give it Some Thought
Download the Worksheet: Members of Beyond 50 Percent can download a PDF worksheet to help you with this exercise.
[ddownload id=”760″]
One of the reasons that I don’t delegate is that I get so busy that I just don’t think about it. It sounds lame when I write it down but it’s the truth.
The first part of the worksheet will help you identify just a few things you might be able to hand off to someone else.
There’s no rocket science here so just grab a cup of coffee, relax and we’ll go through this together.
Solutions to Delegation
Remember these as you do the exercise and as you consider your options.
Delegate to an Employee
There are some real advantages to delegating to an employee if they have skills and/or interest in the task.
- By delegating tasks you show confidence in his/her abilities
- You get it off your plate
- It is easy to see if the delegated task is being accomplished
- Adjustments can be made quickly if needed
Automate What You Can
There are quite a few processes these days that can be automated through technology. Without getting into too much detail here are a few that you can look into if you’re interested.
- Processing email
- Social media posting
- Monitoring web searches
Outsource to the Web
- upwork.com
- fivr.com (careful on this one – let’s face it you get what you pay for)
- freelancer.com
- guru.com
- staff.com
There are plenty more some good keywords to search for are freelance, virtual assistant and virtual staff.
Hire Part-time/Contract(temp)/Interns
For short term projects or if you are skittish about delegating you can get your feet wet without adding to your headcount. Experiment and see what works for you.
One Last Thing
Yeah… I guess I made this ‘Three Thoughts on Delegation”…
Make sure when you delegate something that you:
- Identify and communicate the expected results
- Try not to control the process as long as satisfactory results are met – let people do things their own way as much as possible/practical (hot dogs are delicious but I don’t want to see them made)
- Discuss how results will be monitored and measured up front
- Review results – if you ‘fire and forget’ you are likely to get results that aren’t what you expect
Stephen
Break time’s over… it’s time to roll up our sleeves and get to work!
If you got value out of this post please consider sharing it! Keep pushing your business ‘beyond 50 percent’ by becoming a member of Beyond 50 Percent and get access to all of our small business resources.
Find out what’s inside Beyond 50 Percent.
© 2016 Beyond 50 Percent. All rights reserved.
