Delegation: The Secret Sauce to a Successful Business

You're at a point in your business where the majority of the day-to-day work falls to you, and it's rare that you assign tasks to someone else. Maybe there is no one else to assign tasks to. You realize you're holding yourself back from expanding to the next level, but delegating feels like an insurmountable task. Here's the truth, you ARE holding yourself back. Let me ask you this. Do you think Oprah reads and responds to every email? Do you think Ali Brown manages her social media? Do you think Tony Robbins does his own books from start to finish? I can hear you now, "But Margie, I'm not a triple zillionaire. I'm a small operation with a budget." That may be, but you will never move from surviving to thriving if you don't have support. Even if you are able to handle everything now, you need to leap before you think you're ready, because the honest truth is you'll NEVER feel ready, you'll just feel tired. If you want to grow your business, you MUST delegate. I know busy work can be soothing. You feel like you're doing something productive because you see immediate results. When you send a payment reminder to a client and the funds come streaming in (yahoo!) you feel like you've done something. But that 'something' could have easily been accomplished by someone else with the same end result and none of your energy expended. Imagine having the time and space to create. To express your natural brilliance. You're not worrying about invoices being sent out, emails being sorted and answered, follow-ups, or social interactions. You have time to work on the heart of your business, the big projects, the moneymakers. Doesn't that sound fantastic? When you are the epicenter of your business, it needs your energetic injections and bursts of brilliance to thrive and grow. If you're spending time chasing invoices, sending contracts, and responding to every email as soon as it rolls in, then you're stealing from your profits. You're also closing yourself off to another person's ingenuity and inspiration. You could find someone who is an absolute miracle at the things you're mediocre at (at best). They could be an amazing injection of new ideas and ways of doing things that you'd never thought of. If you've never hired assistance before, here’s how to get started.

1. Take a couple weeks and make a list of everything you do in your business as you're doing it.
2. Make a note about which of those tasks and projects don't energize you or maybe even drain your energy.
3. Go through that list (especially the energy drainers) and tick off the things that someone else could do for you.
4. Look for the patterns emerging from your list of potentially delegated tasks.
5. Draft a job description for the person who will match your needs.

But Margie… I'm afraid to hire people to help me. What if they aren't as much of a perfectionist as I am? What if they let me down? What if it takes more time to explain than it would if I just did it myself? Listen, there's going to be a learning curve, but when you find the right people to support you, as it goes in your personal life, the floodgates of your genius will open and the growth you'll see will astound you. My suggestion is before you even look for an assistant or a designer or a writer or a nanny, craft your ideal candidate. Write down how they communicate. What kind of skills they have. How they work. When they work. What kind of person they are. What beliefs they have about your business. How they operate in the world in general. Create your ideal support person, and then open yourself up to allowing them to enter your life. Allow yourself to be supported. Trust it. Receive it. Let go. And watch your business grow. No one has all the ideas. Everyone needs support. Start building your team before you burn out, and the opportunities that come your way will have you dancing and singing with gratitude on a daily basis. Now that's success!