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As a small business owner, I’m sure that you’ve struggled with not having enough hours in the day. In the beginning of your business, you probably had plenty of time to get everything done because most of your time was more than likely allocated to marketing. As your marketing efforts began to pay off and clients were rolling in, I’m sure that your days began to become shorter in terms of time. Any successful growing business has gone through this. What usually happens is, as your business grows and your client base grows, you find yourself only able to service your clients throughout each day. The things that you could once get done, such as your marketing, bookkeeping, and general administrative tasks, all fall by the wayside. This is not healthy for your business. It can continue on like this, but only for a while before it really begins to take its toll on your overall business growth. The solution to this problem, yep, you guessed it, delegation.

I know that it’s hard to trust and let go. After all, your business is your baby. You’ve nourished it from its infancy to what it is today. You know all about it, every little detail. How could you possibly trust it in the hands of someone else, right? This is all fine and dandy if you’re okay with continuing to run your business all by yourself. However, if you’re tired of working very long hours and would like to grow your business revenues, my suggestion is to learn to delegate.

One great tip to learn to delegate is to start small. You don’t have to pile everything on someone all at once. You probably won’t feel comfortable doing this anyway, so choose one thing from your to do list and begin with that. Once you see that the person can handle that task efficiently, give them something else from your to do list. You can follow this sequence until you feel comfortable enough to add more things to their plate.

Learning to effectively delegate can take some time, but keep at it and you will soon reap the results. Don’t be surprised when you can leave the office earlier or take more time off. Believe me, you will feel like a new person, and you will be an even better person to your clients because you’re less stressed. Delegation isn’t all bad; it’s actually the key to a successful business.