Before I leave this section, I want to touch on a couple of excuses people use to not delegate. The first one is a fear of delegating. Some small business people are afraid to 'let go' of a particular task for what they consider to be good reasons. They think, 'Henry won't do as good a job at _____ as I do.' Or 'I'll waste too much time telling Mary how I want it done. It's easier to do it myself.'
These are nonsense. The people who are making this kind of objection to delegating are really afraid of losing control. Realize that you don't lose control of a task just because someone else is doing it. It is still your guidelines and you have the final say.
One of the other big excuses is, 'It will cost me money.' Maybe. Maybe not. Delegation will certainly cost you some time, because you will have to research the best provider for the task you have decided to delegate. And yes, delegating someone else to do a particular task may also cost you money.
Some business people get around this by getting family members to pitch in. In fact, in Basic Business Concepts, we discussed how important it is to get your children involved in your business, as this will give them some of the best education in real life skills that they will ever receive. One of the worse things that can happen is for one member of the family to work 60 to 80 hours a week trying to get a business off the ground and nobody else in the family knowing why. This just leads to resentment of you never being available. Isn't keeping a happy home worth a few dollars to delegate part of your work?
So set your fear of delegating aside. In fact, sometimes the job will get done better, because that person is a specialist in that particular field. Be creative when you delegate. Some tasks can be automated and others only need to be done part-time. And look at your whole life when choosing tasks to delegate. It may be more inexpensive for you to hire someone to mind your children than hire someone to design a marketing plan when you are good at it.