One of the toughest decisions when running a small business is determining when it's time to get an extra set of hands.
Sure, sole proprietorships require a fanatical focus on managing costs to help boost profits. Even so, there still comes a point when trying to do it all yourself can be counterproductive to your revenue goals.
A start to hiring help could begin with a housecleaner, a yard maintenance service or a handyman. These are good choices for easing yourself into handing off work
Here are some ways to help you determine if you're trying to do too much yourself or, more important, if you're doing the wrong things with your precious time. Both situations can keep you from higher profits and self-employment satisfaction, and that might show that it's time you hire help.
Help can pertain to the home
If running your business is running you ragged, you might be in need of some extra hands. It's not uncommon for those who work out of their homes as a cost-saving measure to become overwhelmed in their efforts.
Oftentimes, the help you need might not pertain to your actual business but, rather, to everything that is keeping you from running your business.
If you're constantly reminded of the domestic duties that need attention (house cleaning, property maintenance, laundry, meal prep), then you're losing the focus on your business.
A start to hiring help could begin with a housecleaner, a yard maintenance service or a handyman. These are good choices for easing yourself into handing off work to others that can often be achieved in as little as once a week—and that's pretty easy on expenses, too.
Offload your business busyness
If your mundane distractions are already being handled but you're still not achieving your business goals, you might need additional help. Consider these areas where you might benefit from bringing someone on to ease your load:
Day-to-day tasks are critical to keep a business running, but when it comes to growing the business, you need to focus on the strategic matters while leaving the tactical activities to someone else
- Order invoicing
- Packing and shipping
- Email monitoring and some response
- Data entry and product listing management
- Office supply maintenance
- Managing customer lists
- Bookkeeping
You get the idea; these are just a few items you can hand off to an assistant while you set your focus on developing new products, marketing plans, professional networking and everything else that will take your business to the next level.
Day-to-day tasks are critical to keep a business running, but when it comes to growing the business, you need to focus on the strategic matters while leaving the tactical activities to someone else.
Delegation is a beautiful thing
This is the crux for truly expanding your business. Handing off tasks and responsibilities is sometimes the most difficult challenge for small-business owners. They started with a vision, developed a plan and set about to address each aspect to achieve their expectations of business success.
Letting someone else take over even the tiniest tasks can be fraught with anxiety and an overwhelming instinct for refusal. However, this is how a small business grows and delegation to others is the path to such growth. That said, why is it that small-business owners are reticent to delegate? Usually, it boils down to this:
The cost to hire help: This is usually at the top of the list of reasons cited for not bringing on help. They'll need to be paid. While it has already been acknowledged that hiring help incurs cost, you'll need to honestly weigh whether doing certain tasks is what is keeping you from realizing greater profits.
Like your money, you also need to spend your time wisely to reap the greatest benefit. You might excel in your profit potential if you can leave certain tasks to others.
The time you take to train someone to take duties off your hand is an investment in your ability to spend more of your time working to grow your business
The loss of control of some aspects of the business: Some argue this is the top reason for not delegating, and it's a compelling case. If you feel no one can tend to all aspects in and around your business better than you, then you should accept the fact you will be the greatest limiter to your business' growth.
You'll simply need to identify the time-takers in your daily work and determine to find and train someone else to do those for you.
The time it takes to explain: Many lament that by the time they train someone else, they could have completed the task themselves.
While that may be true today, you need to focus on freeing up your tomorrows. The time you take to train someone to take duties off your hand is an investment in your ability to spend more of your time working to grow your business. That's a good investment, every time.
Most business owners will agree that delegation is difficult—at first. Yet many who have done it will sing the praises of the freedom it brings once they embraced the idea.
Bringing on help can open new avenues for developing new business ideas, finding new customers to serve, and expanding the business to reach its original goals and beyond. It's all too much for one person to manage and, when a businessperson wisely chooses to employ some extra hands (and minds), the potential for that business can grow, sometimes exponentially.