When you started your business, you had to do everything. But as your business grows, you need to give up the tasks better performed by employees or outside professionals. Here are three areas of your business you should consider delegating.
Most small business owners start out doing it all by themselves until the business grows and they find that they need to now hire staff to grow their business any further. That’s when some hard decisions need to be made. Mostly, it’s the business owner trying to decide what they feel comfortable letting go of to their staff. Of course, this all depends on what skill sets they hired, but it also comes down to the owner actually letting go of the tasks they need help with versus just giving away the ones they like the least. Let’s consider what should be examined in greater detail to make sure you’re doing this right…
Marketing. The term marketing covers a broad range of activities that includes online content, website, etc., but I’ll cover that more below because in 2015 it is something big enough that it needs to be considered separately. But what else about marketing? An overall strategy… a plan for what you’re going to do day-to-day, month-to-month to market your business. This may not be you. Maybe you did it well when you were smaller or running everything on your own, but as you grow you may need someone dedicated to do this for you. Otherwise, you miss out on the analysis that will find out who best to market to and how. You’ll miss potential clients and potential revenue. Delegating this task will be money well spent.
RELATED: 6 Tips for Delegating Effectively
Finances. Let’s face it, not everyone handles finances well. You can be making a ton of money in your business, and still not manage your business’s money well, or plan well for upcoming revenue streams. I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not very good at it. I manage project financials well, but when it comes to my own consulting finances and planning, it’s not something that I do well or have much time for. Thankfully, my wife is great at it. If managing finances isn’t one of your strengths, outsource it or hire someone to take care of that portion of your business for you. You’ll likely find that the money you’ve spent on that resources is far outweighed by increased business revenue because you’ve freed up that time and you’ve taken away a heavy burden from yourself.
Online presence. In today’s business world, this is critical, though it’s hard to see the return on investment for it. It’s not something you can do for a couple of weeks and give up. Likely, you need to put significant effort into your online marketing for 6 months or a year. Start with a website, a presence on the key social media sites, and small promotions online to get the word out about your organization, what you do and any specials you might be running from time to time. Most of this is free – except the effort and time to do this. And you need to do it well. Refresh your website and online content if you haven’t done this in awhile. Engage your customers online in social media and keep content fresh to keep potential customers interested. If you don’t have the technical expertise or interest to pull this off, then bring someone in who can because this is critical in 2015.
RELATED: 18 Tips For Better Results When You Outsource
Summary
The bottom line is this… What are you good at? Not what do you like to do the most? What are you really good at and how best can you help your own business grow? If you’re holding it back because you won’t let go of those tasks you’re less qualified for just because you’re squeamish about it, then you have no one but yourself to blame when your business fails to thrive or closes up shop. It takes a skilled entrepreneur to really put the business above their own wants, needs, and preferences when looking at what skills and responsibilities to delegate and trust others to get done.
