Delegation: The Secret Ingredient for Entrepreneurs. You can’t grow if you don’t delegate. Delegation frees you up to take a birds eye view of your business. This big-picture perspective allows you to look for investment opportunities, improve processes, clarify strategy, and move the needle forward in your business.
You can’t do everything yourself. And the bigger your business grows, the truer this becomes. That’s why it’s so essential to master the art of delegation. Delegating the day-to-day work of your business frees you up to think big, cultivate relationships with clients, nail down new sources of revenue, and do the things that only you can do.
When you should hire a Virtual Personal Assistant
A Virtual Personal Assistant is a worthwhile investment for your startup or small business if you fall into any of these categories:
- You can’t afford a full-time employee, but you need an extra set of hands.
- You’re having trouble staying organized.
- You are working IN your business more than ON your business.
- You travel a lot and need support while you are on the road.
- You are wearing 7 different hats.
It’s never impossible to delegate — it’s all in the mind of the delegator. Here are some ways to get started on the road to all-star delegation:
Get over your perfectionist streak. The key to delegating is recognizing that your ability to do things perfectly isn’t as highly valued as you think it is. In fact, perfectionism isn’t valuable in 80 percent of the work we do. If you think you’re the exception to this rule — which all perfectionists do — consider that perfectionism is so unhealthy that it’s a risk factor for depression. This should make delegating come easier. Delegating can be scary, especially if you are a perfectionist. Here are 7 things that you could outsource to a VPA today.
Calendar – Setup a shared calendar and let your VPA manage, schedule, and arrange your calendar. Allow your VPA to handle the back-and-forth of setting up appointments. Most use Google calendar which is great because when your VPA confirms a meeting it will sync directly to your mobile device.
Email – It is a time waster. Allow your VPA to filter out the small stuff, and prioritize inquiries so that you only see the ones that need your attention. You can also setup a personal email account for them on your business domain so it appears that they are in-house.
Track Projects – Managing projects, deadlines, and deliverables can be tough when you are busy. Setup a common project platform so that you can share project status updates.
Invoicing – Invoicing is an important task that many small businesses put off, yet it is crucial to operations. Let your VPA send, track, and receive your business invoices. This is particularly useful for small businesses or entrepreneurs. Let them manage your AR and call clients on your behalf as well, that way you don’t feel like you are hounding the clients.
Research – Searching the web may seem like a simple and quick task. However, it can be a major time sink when your quick search turns into a multi-hour surfing session. Let you VPA do simple research for you.
Expense Reports – Another paperwork project to delegate to your VPA is expense tracking. It seems to be a generally hated task by all business people. Let your VPA organize your expenses and receipts. It is easy to share receipt images and documents via Dropbox or an expense app like Freshbooks.
Travel – People don’t like to give up control of travel. But, how long do you waste looking at flights to get just the right one? Let your VPA book your travel and use a system such as TripIt or Trip Case to sync your itinerary to your mobile device and calendars.
Proofreading – It doesn’t matter how many times you proofread that presentation; you are still going to overlook the typo. Let your VPA be a second set of eyes on all types of documents. Maybe you’ve run out of time of creative juices; let your VPA explore other options to your creative writing block.
If you want more time for yourself, maybe it’s time you explore the art of delegation and hire a VPA of your own. Remember: reluctance to give up control of tasks is probably a sign that you need some assistance. In many cases, a VPA can perform your administrative tasks faster, better, and more effectively than you can.
There are hundreds of projects that you can outsource to a Virtual Personal Assistant. We have a great starter plan for $159/month that gives you access to your own VPA for 5 hours a month.
Delegating IS affordable and you’d be surprised as the vast knowledge your VPA has. Gone are the days where they only manage calendars and book appointments. Heck with Christmas around the corner you could even get your VPA to do your online shopping, price check, book your holiday travel, manage your holiday social calendar, or get a handle on your 2016 priorities. The possibilities are endless.
When would NOW be a good time to get acquainted with the art of delegation?
