Have you ever heard the old saying, “If you want something done right then you have to do it yourself?” This quote is dangerous. Sure, there are lots of things that you do like no one else, and you probably do need to do those things yourself. In fact, those things are probably how you make the majority of your income and represent your “brilliance.”
In an ideal world you would ONLY be doing your brilliance work, and nothing else. This means you need to delegate. Here are a few excuses people give for not delegating and how to overcome them.
1. I don’t have the money.
There are times for all of us that we have more time than money and we try to do too much ourselves. During those times, rather than trying to learn something brand new, look for “money on the table.” Are there some hot prospects you could follow up with to get a new client or two? If so, use those profits towards delegating instead of doing things yourself. You will save money and time in the long run.
It may take you 5 hours to complete a task that would take someone who was skilled in that area only 2. If you make $100 an hour and the work you need done costs $25 an hour, you’ve saved yourself a good deal of time and money.
2. I don’t know what to delegate.
Start by listing all the things you really HATE to do. The things you hate the most delegate first.
3. I am afraid it won’t get done right.
It’s important to hire people who are proficient in the areas you need them for. Don’t be afraid to ask the tough questions and request samples of their work along with references. Oh yeah…and check up with those references. When you hire someone, you want them to know way more than you do about the tasks your handing over. You should only have to explain how things work at your company, not how to do the task.
4. What if they quit and I’m left high and dry?
Start writing an operations manual for your business right now. Keep schedules, passwords, and even the most basic step by step info here. When you hire someone, you can send them a copy and make it a requirement that they enter step by step info for the tasks they are assigned to. This way, if you go your separate ways, you will have their operations manual to hand over to someone else.
BONUS Grow Girl Delegation Tip:
Don’t over-hire. For example, let’s say you hire 1 assistant and she charges $50 an hour. She’s worth every penny as long as she’s sticking to updating your website and doing your marketing. You need some papers filed and some info posted on the net. You let her do it because you don’t want to hire someone else. However, you could hire someone for only a few hours a week and pay them just $8 an hour for those tasks and free your $50 an hour assistant up to do more complex work. In some cases this could mean you have 2-3 assistants who only work a few hours a week or month, but you will save a lot of money!
Your Grow Girl Assignment:
Make a list of everything that you currently do in your biz.
Out beside each task, grade the tasks with either an A, B, C, or D. A’s are the things you love and D’s are the things you hate.
Make a “delegate first” list starting with the D’s and ending with the C’s (you can eventually work on the B’s too).
Next, figure out what needs to happen in your business to delegate those first tasks on your list (get a new client to pay for it, clear some time for interviewing, etc.) and make a plan for doing so!
What are you going to delegate first?
Brandi Hamrick is a marketing, mindset, and money coach. She trains other coaches, has a BA in Marketing, and is certified in many areas of coaching and energy work including Reiki. Brandi is the founder of You Grow Girl and www.yougrowgirl.net and her purpose is to help you prosper from your purpose!
If we’re really honest with ourselves, we’ll see that at least part of the time, we are not really “driving” our business – it’s driving us.
As a veteran virtual assistant, online business manager and serial entrepreneur, I’ve built my businesses from a foundation of growing knowledge gathered by continual learning. My success largely depends on the skills and experience I can offer, so I am always looking for new learning opportunities.
