Comfortable delegating.

Don’t you feel awesome when something works for you?  

Last week I received a couple of emails mentioning a link in my regular productivity tips email didn’t work. Today, I had a look at the link, fixed it in about a minute and then started thinking about the time and energy I’ve invested into my business over the last nine and a half years and how they have born fruit in intended and unintended ways.

I’m finally comfortable delegating.

The main reason/excuse I gave for NOT delegating is “I like learning about the cool sexy tools and technology in the world and then teaching others about it.”  I used my soul’s purpose as a seedplanter and a teacher to avoid letting go of tasks and projects that weren’t my favorite thing to do. Learning and teaching is not license to not delegate.

There is a healthy balance in delegation and ownership. 

Still, we busy entrepreneurs need to take time to learn at least the basics of what we want to delegate so we can hold our vendors accountable.  Recently, I’ve been learning, reading, crafting, writing and implementing new technologies in my business to make delegating my least favorite stuff easier. I found the easiest most efficient platform for me from which to blog and then disseminate the blog across multiple media outlets. I’ve found a super easy way for me to create engaging emails for people who choose to engage with me through email. And I’ve found an easy way for me to manage the prospects, contacts and interactions I have on and off line. 

Notice I said “for me”. I invested time and energy in finding the right tools that worked for me and my business model and defining my desired outcome so that I could effectively delegate to experts. In the example of the broken email link, I knew the platform product well enough to fix it quickly. And because I invested time in finding a platform that worked for me, I was able engage a vendor who knows this platform inside and out. I delegate technical stuff that would take me longer than two minutes to fix/change/update. I also feel confident when I delegate to my vendor it gets done well and quickly because I invested the time to know the basics of the platform. I can hold her accountable.

What a great lesson for me to learn as I share with you the simple fact the “read more” link in the emails that go out is now fixed. 

Jessica Chapman Clark is the founder of Room to Breathe™ Professional Organizing where she helps busy entrepreneurs set up personalized workflow systems so they and their staff can spend their time making more money.  Connect with Jessica on Twitter @Room2BreatheOrg or on facebook.com/RoomToBreatheOrganizing