Any of this sound familiar? “They can’t do it the way I can”. “It will take me longer to teach them than to just do it”. As business owners, and particularly for the ladies, we have a difficult time delegating in our business AND at home. The thought of entrusting someone else with what we want to accomplish just puts a pit in our stomachs. 

Why small business owners find it hard to delegate 

 When we first start our entrepreneurial journey, we are often going at it alone. We spend countless hours working on business plans, developing strategies, designing services and programs, and deciding on the best marketing techniques to bring our visionary programs to those who need them. We are so immersed in planning the road to our success that it becomes our business baby – and we are all very protective of our kids! 

 So, it is not a huge surprise that many small business CEOs do not find it easy to entrust our ‘baby’ with someone else. Even if that person has been involved during the entire process, we know the ultimate rewards and failures impact the freedoms we want to gain from being a business owner. It’s a common scenario that leaves many owners overwhelmed, swamped, and not achieving their revenue targets. After all, one person can only do so much! 

To get more harmony while getting more accomplished it is important to embrace being ok with delegating some tasks so you get time back in your day and can focus on being strategic and creative. 

Deciding what to delegate in your business 

 You have decided that you have had it with being overwhelmed and you need to get some things off your never-ending To Do list. You may also be wondering where on earth to start dividing and conquering those twelve-hour days.  

Here are some steps for breaking down your list so you can quickly hand them off.  

Steps for delegation

Step 1. Evaluate the things you’re working 

Sometimes we are so heads down we do not take time to evaluate if we are working on the right things. The way to know if you are working on the right things as a small business owner is to ask yourself, “Does this task free up my time, free up my finances, or expand my reach or sales?” If the answer is yes, then it is a Must Do for you. Everything else can be delegated or deleted.  

Step 2: Sort your list into categories 

Sort your daily work into three categories – Done by Me, Delegate, Delete. You already know what is a Must Do but now you want to evaluate if they must be done by you. For example, organizing your calendar better may free up your time, but could you delegate that task to your assistant? Sure, you can! Maybe freeing up your finances requires an operations manager to do a deep dive into your cash flow system.

Here’s some things to keep in mind when delegating: 

• If someone can do it with better quality and speed – DELEGATE! 
• Able to train a person to do it – DELEGATE! 
• Your revenue supports paying someone else – DELEGATE! 

…All so you get time back, decrease your stress and can focus on the most critical self-care and revenue generating things!  

Identifying who, or what, gets the delegation 

Delegating creates capacity in the busy CEO’s schedule to focus on getting revenue and to reduce exhaustion. We often think about delegating to people, but we can also delegate to our technology. Spending hours and hours responding to direct messages. Delegate standard responses to a chat bot. Technology can also help reduce mistakes by removing the human intervention in your activities. Choose tools based on your specific business needs and ones that cover multiple functions, so you get more bang for your buck. 

Strategic outsourcing is another great way to delegate the tasks you should not be covering (or just don’t want to do). Subcontract non-revenue generating work, like operations, legal, human resources, and administrative, to get less hands-on and more visionary. 

Use these simple ways to reduce the ‘small business owner burnout’ you are experiencing or use them to get ahead of the overwhelm. Your focus is best spent on being the visionary, strategist you dreamed of when you started your business ownership journey. 

You may be wondering how to put systems in place. Or you want your delegation to go off without major glitches or you’re just looking for a way to accelerate your results. You can accelerate your freedom from business overwhelm in 1 day with my Accelerate intensive consulting experience for the CEO who needs a jumpstart gaining more ease. Click here to get more information and schedule your session.