You are trying to grow your business, get your blog written, edit your sale pages, and create a new product. Does your to-do list feel like it is never-ending? Do you lay in bed at night thinking about the things you didn’t get done during the day? What if you could delegate them?
I can tell you that one of the biggest secrets to building a successful business, is understanding that you can’t do it alone. You have got to learn to delegate. I speak to so many entrepreneurs that know they should be delegating but just don’t know how to get started or what they can actually delegate.
Here is my question for you. How much can you really get done? The reality is as entrepreneurs and business owners, we set unrealistic expectations and then we get irritated with ourselves because we don’t get everything done.
We have to understand what our limitations are, get clear on what we do well and focus on that, and then delegate the rest.
What Should You Delegate?
Every day my goal is to give away 80% of my to-do list. So it’s actually easier for us to talk about what you don’t delegate because everything else can be delegated.
As the owner of your business you should be focused on three things:
- Developing Plans and Strategies. Although you might be doing this with team members or a coach, you want to be an active participant in the planning of your business. Notice, I didn’t say implementing, I said developing plans and strategies. The implementation part comes from your team.
- Income Producing Activities (IPA’s). This is where the majority of your time needs to be spent. This means holding sales conversations, networking, speaking or booking speaking engagements. In short, everything that goes along with those tasks.
- Working with Clients or Creating Products and Programs: If you are a coach, then you have to deliver on your coaching agreements. If you are a web designer you must deliver the new website unless you have subcontractors.
How Do You Get Started Delegating?
If you have never had a team member before, the best thing for you to do is start small. Hire someone for 5 hours a week or 5 hours a month, and give them a task that you find hard to get done. For me it was my newsletter. I could not stay consistent on sending out my newsletter so that was the 1st thing I delegated.
If you are at the point where you are ready to expand your business then make a list of all the activities in your business and find someone else to accomplish 80% of them.
One last piece of advice, surround yourself with the smartest people you can find. When I am sitting in my team meetings I am always amazed at how smart all the people on my team are. I want to be the enabler that lets them shine in their brilliance.
Want to have a deeper conversation about what you can delegate?
Click here to learn The Secrets to Making Decisions and Taking Action Like a Real Business Owner.
