People who go into business for themselves are, by and large, control freaks. We all have clear ideas about what we want to do and exactly how we want to do it. Most of us are high-energy people and like to move fast. Simply said, we mostly believe that it is “easier to do it ourselves” than it is to find, train, and monitor someone else to do things for us.
The problem with this strongly-held belief is that even though entrepreneurs are a special breed, we are still, in a word, human. So just like everyone else, we get 24 hours in a day and at some point our judgment gets clouded from fatigue and getting stuck in our own boxes. And because we have a zillion ideas a day, many of which could make money if only we'd follow up in a consistent way, we end up throwing money away when we don't learn to love delegating. We are now between a rock and a hard place, for although we love to control everything, we also love to make a buck. What to do?
Here's your “I love to delegate” mantra. I suggest you print it out and stick it near your computer (or iPad, if that's where you are now spending most of your time).
- When I delegate I have a much greater opportunity to make more money.
- A smart entrepreneur makes a list of the things she doesn't like to do and delegates those things first.
- Delegating tasks means that I also trust the person I've delegated to, and permit that person the freedom to get the tasks done in a way that is different than how I would optimally do it.
Make your list, hand it off, and keep repeating your mantra. You will soon discover even more ways to make money because you are not choked up on doing things that don't make you money, or things that you put off because you don't like them. And before you know it, you'll say “I love to delegate” and mean it!
Fantastic! I am sharing this will all my clients (who are all control freaks). I especially like the first one of your mantras – making more money is so important to them!
Hi Sue,
I so resemble the typical “control freak” entrepreneur. But, you’ll be happy to know I’ve embraced outsourcing and delegating and am getting ready to expand the team– again. 🙂
Write on!~
Lisa
There is no doubt I was better at delgating when I was a manager in the corporate world. My greatest success in delgation since has been with very specific tasks with specific projects. The narrow focus seems to hone in on an important component for me; trust.
Great tip Sue–delegating is ultimately so freeing! thanks for your wise words!
Thanks for the mantra and tips Sue – you are so correct and as I am reading this on International Women’s Day I am reminded even more of how this is often a great challenge from women – we are not always the best at delegating or asking for help – but we should.
Thanks
Heidi Alexandra
This is definitely the mantra I need to keep nearby for those moments when I think that only I can do what needs to be done! Letting go of tasks not only gives you time and energy to give back to your business, it allows you to maximize other people’s creative ideas. After all, we entrepreneurs don’t know EVERYTHING. Thanks for the reminder, Sue!
Good tip Sue. For me it has helped greatly to have an intern. She handles some of the more tedious tasks and I can get to the main work at hand.