Have you considered delegating in your biz before? What’s the big deal with delegating anyway?

Read on to find out how delegating will make your life (and biz) better, tips to figure out what and how to delegate, finding the right person and getting over your reluctance to do it in the first place 😉

 

The Payoff of Delegation

— First, and probs most important, it’s going to free up a ton of your time…to focus on more important things, to take time off, to move from a 5 to a 4 day work week…whatever you want time for.

— When things are delegated, your biz can keep buzzing in the background when you step away for a bit, rather than come to a crashing and abrupt halt. Imagine coming back from vaca with a list of leads, new sales or even onboarded clients!

— Delegation lets you serve those clients or customers better too, because you have the time to focus on them, instead of on the menial stuff.

— It’s actually counterproductive for you to work on the routine, day-to-day tasks, when you could be improving your offering, product or service, working 1:1 with clients, networking…doing those things that only you can do to grow, build and scale your biz. It’s impossible to do this all by your lonesome – you just can’t be the expert / biz owner / CEO and the worker bee too.

— It allows space for you to learn new skills / processes / ideas, incorporate self-development and just generally grow and shift into a better version of you.

— It allows someone else to make some money, be of service, do what they love and have the opportunity to work in (and share with you) their own area of expertise.

— Delegating will help you avoid overwhelm and burnout (whether you feel it now or not…avoid it by delegating now).

 

Deciding What To Delegate

— Start by making a list of all your everyday, routine, ongoing, recurring tasks and to-do’s. Track yourself for a few days to capture those things that are now just an unconscious habit for you.

— Note which things on that list:

• • You don’t like doing
  • You aren’t good at (maybe it requires a certain expertise or skill you just don’t have or want to learn)
  • You don’t need to do (as in someone else could totally take over)
  • That take up a lot of your time

Consider the effort you’re putting into each task, vs the skill it requires – those that require a lot of effort, but little skill, are perfect candidates for delegation.

If you don’t like a task and don’t need to do it, that’s another perfect thing to delegate!

If you like to do something, but you also don’t need to be the one doing it: make sure it’s not taking up too much of your time or taking time away from your biz growth / building / scaling tasks.

If you don’t like it but you need to be the one doing it, there’s always going to be some part of the job we don’t like…boo! But take a moment to re-evaluate: maybe these tasks just need to be automated or streamlined, or taken off your to-do list altogether.

— Some examples of classic delegation tasks:

• • Social media platform management
  • Social media ad management
  • Graphic & image creation
  • Managing & monitoring a FB group
  • Scheduling appointments & calendar management
  • Bookkeeping
  • Back end website maintenance
  • Blog post writing
  • Copywriting
  • Data entry
  • Research
  • Organizing travel details & arrangements
  • Email list and/or newsletter management

 

Document The Process

— Write and outline a very detailed step-by-step process for each task you’re delegating.

Go through the process of whatever task you’ve decided to delegate yourself. Write down every single step in order as you go, no matter how small or obvious to you. A tip to force extreme detail: stop every 10 seconds to write down what you just did.

Using print screens can help make things clearer and easier to understand (peeps love visuals!)

— Ask someone who has no idea what you do to go through it.

Do they get it and understand what needs to be without any questions? Tweak it based on their questions and feedback.

— Meet with your new assistant / VA (virtual assistant) once to go through the process you’ve put together.

It’s important to go through each step, but remember to also be clear about the result and outcome you’re expecting. Having an ultimate goal will empower and motivate them to do the best job possible.

— Create and upload the step-by-step process into a platform that can be shared (ie: Google Drive, Drop Box, Asana, Trello).

It’s quick and easy to access anywhere and they can simply update the status of all tasks for you to see (saves you lots of time in follow up or coordinating a call).

 

Finding The Right Person

— Ask for referrals from trusted friends, colleagues and people you admire and respect (caveat: speaking from personal experience, this doesn’t always work, LOL, but it’s a good place to start).

— Have a quickie chat with your new assistant / VA, before committing to working together, so you can get to know them and a feel for their vibe.

Be clear and upfront about the skills and kind of support you’re looking for in an assistant, your own personality and work type, as well as expectations. Also be honest about how you work – if you’re nervous about delegating, and need to check in with them X number of times, tell them that. It will help ease the pressure a bit, and maybe you won’t even feel the need to check in so much.

— Think of the relationship as a back and forth.

Consistently communicate and provide feedback so they can adjust, improve and meet your expectations (rather than just giving up the first time they do something imperfectly).

— Be patient: the more familiar you are with each other and that they are with their tasks, the faster and more efficient the whole process will become.

 

If You’re Having Trouble Letting Go

Figure out why and where the resistance is coming from.

— Is it fear (that it won’t be done as well, or as well as you would do it)? Maybe it’s a symptom of perfectionism?

Truth: allowing someone else to take care of the routine tasks allows you to shine and excel even more within your area of expertise and with your clients (because more of your time is freed up to focus on these things!)

— Is there a sense of shame in letting someone help you and not doing everything yourself?

Truth: delegating actually makes you look like a leader, an authority and a strong woman that’s taking control of her biz and life.

— Does it feel lazy or weak to you?

Truth: (see previous truth)

 

Bonus Tip: take baby steps and delegate the smallest possible thing first. Or just part of a project, not the whole project. As you get comfortable with it, delegating will come easier and more naturally to you.