Most new entrepreneurs are terrible at delegating. Even seasoned pros find it tough, myself included. But delegate you must, in order to grow your business, save time and, quite possibly, to save your life.
If you do not delegate, here is what will happen:
- You will rob your people of the opportunity to get better, be of greater use to you, and grow their skills. In my view, you don’t have the right to do that.
- Staff morale will plummet as your people say to themselves, “Why doesn’t he/she just do everything? We don’t seem to be needed here.”
- Your business will stagnate. Since you’ve decided to become the chief technician, there won’t be any time left to conduct extensive marketing.
- Your stress levels will go through the roof and there’ll be no time to lead a normal life.
- Your health, friendships, marriage and family life will all deteriorate.
- Your clients will learn to depend on you, and only you, so if you ever do decide to give anyone else responsibility, your clients won’t trust that person and they’ll still try and track you down.
- You will be in prison, never able to escape to take holidays or even badly needed breaks.
- You won’t have any time to meet with people, talk about company goals or help anyone else. You will simply not be there.
- You won’t have time to spend with clients because you’re too busy working “in” your company, instead of “on” your company. Clients will grow to resent your absence and may leave.
- You’ll eventually go broke or die of hard work.
Why entrepreneurs refuse to delegate:
A business coach I know said something to me over coffee this morning that rings true. She said the main reason entrepreneurs do not delegate is that they started their business alone, and just never learned to share the work.
Here are four other reasons business owners refuse to delegate, not necessarily in order of importance.
- Fear of losing their identity and sense of importance.
- Belief that to train others will take too long, and it’s faster to just do it themselves.
- Belief that they are the best person for the job, or, likely the only person.
- Fear of losing control of the company.
When you think about it, all of these reasons are contrary to why a person should own a business in the first place, which is to escape the tedium of work and find more personal time.
No employees
For the one-person business, it’s important to outsource various tasks to contractors and suppliers. You do not need employees to delegate.
Our job as business owners is not to do all of the work, but to coach, train and inspire others. You own the “What” and “Why” but your employees and contractors need to own the “How”.
