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Updated 26/05/2021
In the beginning, as an entrepreneur, you find yourself wearing many hats, from the Head of Sales to cleaning the office. Your focus is diverted all over the place, especially if you don’t have a team of people around you. When your business starts to grow there comes the point when you can no longer do it all. When should that point be?Who should be doing that task?How do I know they will do the job properly?These are all questions that I will address in this article. So, let’s take back control and free up your time to focus on what matters.
When should you stop doing it all?
Many people claim that they are great multi-taskers, but the bad news is that multi-tasking has been proven to be impossible. Your brain can’t do two things at once. Those who claim to be great multitaskers are only switching between multiple tasks in rapid succession. Doing the two or more tasks one after another is more efficient. So, the answer to when should you stop doing it all is, as soon as possible, and maybe sooner than you think. Many business owners think that as their company grow then the only way to get more done is to employ staff. Taking on employees a big commitment and can be a scary proposition, with plenty of worries.
Will you be able to afford them?
These are important questions, but they are not the most important. The essential question to think about is – Can your business afford not to have staff?If you are working all hours of the day (and starting up I worked a few times for 36 hours straight), then there will be a hard limit. You can not work more than 24 hours a day, and doing more than 15 hours, for an extended period, won’t be sustainable. Also, while you are cleaning the office, making the product, providing the service, offering customer service, or fixing the broken computer, who is working on growing your business?
Are you the right person for the job?
If you haven’t got time to work on growing your business, then you need to offload some of your tasks. If you can find someone who can do a task quicker, for less money and even better than you can do it, then bite their hand off. If you think you can’t afford to pay them, then you don’t value your time. If you are doing it instead of someone else, then that is an opportunity cost. It is blocking you from seizing every opportunity for you to find new clients, improve your product and service offering, and grow your business.
How will I know they will do the job the same as I do?
Now, you may worry that no-one will be able to do the job as well as you do. You invented the product or designed the service, and so, you are the best person to do the job – wrong!The best person for a job is someone who could not be doing something any more productive with their time. Otherwise, there is unfulfilled potential, and that is a massive waste of talent. What you need to think about instead, is how can you come up with a process, a system, that enables your business to run without you. Your system will be broken up into many sub-processes to cover everything you do in your company. It will be a manual that details how you operate, what rules staff must obey, and the level of consistency that you expect. If you spend your time to do this task once, then you can free yourself from the trap of micro-management.
Will it take time to train them?
If you document your processes, and this doesn’t need to be more than a quick flow chart, or a numbered list, then you have the perfect resource for training your staff. The training of staff will take time, but it is a one-off task, that will repay you over and over. Documenting and delegating your tasks will free your time, and also make your business more robust, as it isn’t relying on you for everything to work. Build your team. Document your process. Train your people. Free your time to focus on what matters, and grow your business. In the next article, I will explain what to do, if you aren’t quite ready to take the leap to your first full-time employee.
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