Contributed by Laura Schappert.
“If you really want to grow as an entrepreneur, you’ve got to learn to delegate.” Richard Branson.
When you’re good at what you do, people want much more from you. This can lead to a real sense of pressure and work overload because you can’t do everything that everyone wants quite possibly leaving you feeling stressed, unhappy and like you’re letting people down. No matter how hard or how long you work, there’s a limited amount you can accomplish. What’s worse, you may be totally stalling your success if you expect to do everything yourself.
There’s no shame in asking for help, especially when you’re overwhelmed and overworked and time seems to do a disappearing act before your very eyes. One definition of ‘delegate’ is to ‘entrust a task or responsibility to another person.’ A good assistant helps you organize your processes, completes your administrative tasks faster than you can, helps keep you accountable and on track thereby creating a flow which allows you to achieve more and increase your value.
Here are some signs you’re overdue for an assistant:
- You feel like your efforts are getting you nowhere or are not creating income
- You’re constantly worried that things are falling through the cracks
- You don’t think anyone can help, and there’s no one who can do all the things you can do
- You struggle to make time for the most profitable parts of your business and those that create the biggest opportunities (these are generally the things you love to do most!)
- Your business isn’t growing, and hasn’t for six months or more
If you’re already relating to this and nodding yes, it might be time to get in touch with me for a complimentary conversation.
People don’t often consider delegation because they think they can’t afford a virtual assistant. This is backwards. Resources always follow vision and until you get clear on what you need, the resources don’t show up. By learning how to delegate work and by doing it well, you can quickly build a strong and successful support system. Part of the delegation process involves knowing what you want to accomplish and determining a deadline to get it done. Having the goal of delegation creates freedom to plan for the future, find new ways to develop your business and time to invest in higher impact projects to achieve success.
To determine when delegation is most appropriate, ask yourself some key questions:
- Is this a task that’s taking me away from planning and strategizing my business?
- Are there tasks that are draining me and keeping me from doing my best work?
- Is this a task someone else can do, or is it critical that I do it myself?
- Is this a task that will recur, in a similar form, in the future?
- Can someone else do this task better or more efficiently?
- Are there tasks I don’t enjoy or am not good at?
- Is this a task that I should delegate?
If you can answer “yes” to at least some of these questions, then it is worth delegating.
By delegating work, especially recurring tasks, you’re making a positive choice by acknowledging your time is valuable and you’re worthy of having the freedom to focus on your specialty. Employ your virtual assistant as you would your business coach, hairstylist, barista, auto mechanic, massage therapist, anyone who specializes in providing a service you often use, appreciate and trust they know what they’re doing. Remember that old V8 commercial, “I could’ve had a V8!”? Well, you can have a VA!
One last tip: The time to hire an assistant is slightly sooner than you’re 100% ready and comfortable. By the time you’re totally ready – both mentally and financially – you’ll be too busy to properly delegate and train them, if necessary.
Are you feeling inspired? Are you already feeling some relief from overwhelm? Are you ready to let go? Are you nodding and relating to any of this? If so, the next step is to contact me for a complimentary consultation. In the meantime, if you’d like to know more, please visit my website. As a virtual assistant, I share my client’s visions, I believe in the services they provide and want every success for them, including time to thrive and enjoy life.
“Success means we go to sleep at night knowing that our talents and abilities were used in a way that served others.” Marianne Williamson
