As promised in our post earlier this week, here are our favorite guidelines around delegation and outsourcing:

Delegate things others can do faster than you, better than you, more economically than you, or that cause you great stress. You’ll free up your time to do the things that only you can do.

There are certain things that only I can do for myself; like go running.  No one else can go running for me (or if they did, I certainly wouldn’t realize the benefit!).  There are also tasks in my business that I love to do and that are highly profitable for the business, like group training. If I can delegate other tasks to someone else, so that I have time to run, or so that I can teach a productivity workshop for a company, then I make the best use of my time and I benefit or the business benefits.

I used to spend about 10+ hours a  month on book keeping tasks. I was slow because this wasn’t my area of expertise and frankly, I didn’t really like to do the book keeping.  I decided to hire a bookkeeper. My book keeper is able to do those same tasks in 2-3 hours per month. So I’m saving 10 hours of my time per month. Additionally, I’m only paying for 2-3 hours at a fraction of the rate I bill clients for the consulting work I do. What I can make in the 10 hours I save, by working with clients, far outweighs what I pay for the 2-3 hours of service. This is a no-brainer.

Another great time to outsource is when a task causes you stress or anxiety.  If cleaning your house is a dreaded task that causes you to be overwhelmed and stressed out, it would make sense to hire a house cleaner to come in and do this task for you.  This way you have freed up some of your time to do something you truly enjoy and you reduce your level of stress!

It also pays to outsource when you are not the expert.  Hiring a Financial Advisor, a CPA or a Lawyer are really good examples of times to outsoure.  If you are not well educated or the expert in these areas (or do not want to take the time to stay on top of these or other industries), you could end up making a very costly mistake.  It is best to outsource from the beginning.

Lastly, it is a good idea to outsource when you are trying to learn something new for the first time.  For example, if you want to learn how to get a good workout in 30 minutes, it would be a wise investment to hire a personal training for a short period of time.  You will be able to learn an exercise routine that can help you long term. You might even consider working with a Professional Organizer to help you clear clutter in your work space, minimize distraction and learn new productive habits that would allow you to get more done in less time. Another wise investment with a big ROI! (Hint Hint!)

What’s your favorite task to delegate or where do you see the biggest ROI with outsourcing?

Let us know if you have any questions about delegation or outsourcing and as always, let us know if  we can be a resource to you.