My own coach once told me that the best use of his time was to be coaching or making efforts to get into conversation with people he could potentially coach. For him, that meant delegating and outsourcing other aspects of his business which pulled him away from being in conversation with and serving others. He also admitted he simply was not very good at some of the more traditional business roles like marketing and administrative work. Truth be told, I am in the same boat. While I am competent at marketing, social media, bookkeeping and administrative work, it is not my strong suit and, as such, takes me much longer than it would someone with more skills in those areas.

The reality is we simply cannot do all of the things on our own. We are not good at all things and if we are being honest, we simply do not enjoy all things. Yes, there are some things that must get done when you own your own business, but that does not mean you need to be the person actually doing them. Give yourself permission to build a tribe and begin delegating. If this is something you already do I encourage you to find new ways to delegate. Trim the fat and streamline those processes as much as possible. It might mean giving up some control but there is a lot of freedom in that. We touched on delegation in the productivity post in this series, but today we’re going a little deeper.

So far you have envisioned the life you want and established what your personal work-life balance could look like. Now it’s time to delegate. You know you can’t do it all, or at least you can’t do it all well — how do you decide what to delegate?

Start by creating a few lists:

• What tasks must get done to keep your business (or life) running properly?
• What personal skills do you bring to the table?
• Which of the tasks in the above list do you actually like doing?
• What tasks could easily be delegated?
• What tasks simply cannot be delegated?

Then begin delegating!

• Identify who could do the work required
• Research virtual assistants, contract workers and other professionals who could meet your needs. You can even consider working a trade or barter with other professionals if you both offer something the other desires.

Ready to delegate? Here are a few last tips.

1. Have a clear understanding of where you want your business to go and who you are as a brand and a company.

2. Hire people who are able to speak in your voice and represent you and the company the way you, the owner, want.

3. Have clear expectations and communication systems with your new team members. In business, ambiguity leads to chaos.

Once you do these things, you will suddenly have time to do the things you are most passionate about. It will create a sense of freedom and you will be in a position to do your best work and you will make more money in the process.