Things to Consider Before You Delegate

We go to work every day with the intention of getting things done.  Some days that works great, while other days it is not as successful. 

I wondered, what keeps us from getting things done?

So I asked my Facebook group:

I would love to know what is YOUR biggest challenge to GETTING IT ALL DONE?

I heard:

“Determining what and how to outsource, streamlining email process (where I am getting buried and losing things that need my attention because I get focused on things that really don't).“

No matter if you own a business with 1000s of employees or are a solo entrepreneur trying to figure out how to work with their first support person, delegation can be tough.

Today, I'll share some thoughts on outsourcing/delegation and an example of how I saved 2.5 hours a week with one simple change.

Delegation — “But it takes longer to explain it than to do it myself!”

That is one myth that plagues many business owners. Start by taking it one step at a time. Often we get overwhelmed because we think we have to do it all at once! That is just not so.

Schedule 20 minutes this morning and

1) identify 5 things that you know you need not be doing yourself that others could be doing.

2) Identify who could be doing them.

Work to get processes documented and things outsourced for those 5 things. Then, when that is complete, do it again. Baby steps will actually get you there faster than if you try to do it all at once. You do so many amazing things! The more you can let others help you, the stronger and farther your message can go!!

Answer to – “I Don't Have Enough Work to Hire an Employee”

If you look at step 1 above and know that there are things that you could do, but you don't believe you have enough work to justify a full-time or even part-time employee, there are alternatives!  Here is a really quick list:

• Find someone in your local community that is looking for a few hours a week and hire them.  This option will require that you pay employment taxes etc.
• Go to a local college and hire an intern. This option works great if you are patient and like working with people that are in a learning mode.
• Go to a local college and partner with one of their departments on a class project.  Let's say you have some market research that you want to be done.  You could partner with a marketing class to have them work on the project over the course of the semester.
• Hire a Virtual Assistant (VA).  A VA is a business owner that specializes in providing administrative services.  I have been working with VAs for years and find it to be an excellent experience.  Normally, when you work with a VA, you work with an individual that is the same on every project; however, you are sharing their time across their other clients.
• Contract with a VA service.  A VA service is a company that has a number of employees that work on tasks for you.  You submit your requests to the company and they assign the work.

Example of How I Saved 2.5 Hours A Week With ONE Task Delegated

I've been using VAs for years, but mostly for big projects, not for task-related work.

Here is an example of how I saved 2.5 hours a week focusing on tasks:

I record a podcast every business morning. I used to download that mp3 from cinch and then upload it to my audio acrobat account to get it on my podcast and iTunes with keywords description etc as well as publish it to Facebook, etc.

That process took 20-30 minutes a day. It was not difficult to work. I did other things in between the download and upload times, etc. But that time added up!

About 2 months ago I handed this to virtual support.  I wrote out the steps for them to do all the downloading and uploading, etc.  Now they do all of that stuff and I spend 5-10 minutes a day recording my tip and I'm done. YIPPEE!

I also have them doing things like a monthly backup of my blog, managing following, and un-following on Twitter, internet research, keyword research, etc.  They have figured out my travel options too.

I took 1 hour and sat down and defined all of the task-type stuff that I was doing — that small stuff that I don't think about but should not do — and created steps and scheduled it out for them.

Your Turn!

So, what do you delegate or outsource?  I know your thoughts will help others that are reading this post, so share without restriction ok?   If you are a VA, please share your thoughts on activities that are great for delegation.