This is the fourth part of the “Is Your Business Making These 10 Mistakes?” series. Part 1 can be found here, Part 2 is here and Part 3 is here.

Be Good at Delegating
One of the hardest things for entrepreneurs to do is to delegate. We think that we can do everything better than everybody else. Most of the time, this is true, because we know our businesses better than everybody else, we care more about them than everyone on our team and we have a broader set of skills than our employees.

However, just because we are better than other people at something, it doesn’t mean that we have to do it. If you make chocolates, take orders and deliver them, you’ll hit saturation point very soon. That’s bad for your business and your health. This is a lesson that took me a long time to learn.

First of all, let me start by saying this: there ARE people out there that are better than us at what we do. But, there are two problems:

• When you’re getting started, you can’t afford them.
• Entrepreneurs have a wide range of skills and we tend to look for someone that has the same skills but is better at them than we are. This is almost impossible because different people have different skill sets. The solution: find ONE person for each skill. Maybe you’re great at web design, copywriting, sales and finances. It’s not very likely that someone out there has the same skills and is better than you at them. But I can guarantee that you will find a better web designer than you. You’ll find a much better copywriter too. Don’t look for all the skills in one person.

OK, we talked about why you need to delegate and how you can find the right people to delegate tasks to. Now, let’s talk about effective delegation. These are some tips that will help you become really good at delegating:

• Give SPECIFIC instructions.
• The outcome should be MEASURABLE.
• The goal should be REALISTIC.
• There should be a DEADLINE.
• Give people all the MATERIALS they need to complete the task or tell them where they can get them from.
• Explain the REASONS and goals. People work a lot better when they understand why something is being done.
• Tell people whether they have FREEDOM to choose how to do something (as long as it’s done) or if you want it done in a specific way.
• Give people FEEDBACK on their results.
• UNDERSTAND that the process will get better and better as you work more with those people and they learn how you like things done.
• Ask for INPUT. Ask the people on the trenches how you can improve the process.
• Make yourself AVAILABLE for support.

How to Become a Great Problem Solver
There are great books written on problem solving, but my approach is a lot simpler.

1. Is there really a problem? What is the worst thing that could happen if I do nothing about this?
2. If I decide there is a problem and it needs to be solved, I take a pen and a notebook, and create three columns: problems, reasons and solutions. In the problems column I write down what’s going on. In the reasons column I write down why I think it’s happening. And, in the solutions column I write a step-by-step plan of action to solve the problem. For example, last month I had very little free time to finish a very important project. In the problem column I wrote “little free time”. In the reasons column I wrote “John Doe calls me five times a day and we stay on the phone for half and hour each time he calls”. In the solution column I wrote “1. Figure out a nice way to tell this client that I can’t keep doing this anymore. 2. Call client and communicate my decision to him.”
3. Don’t get hung up for weeks trying to find the perfect solution. Act now and correct later if necessary.

If you have a hard decision to make, I have two suggestions for you:

1. Sleep on it. I’m not saying you should wait two weeks to make a decision, but one or two days is OK. Don’t think about the solution all the time. Think about something else and often the solution will come to you (yeah, it sounds a little spooky, I know, but it really works this way).
2. Talk to other people. Sometimes outsiders have a much better perspective than you.

I hope your liked this article. Look out for Part 5 of this post tomorrow.

Author: Zeke Camusio

Zeke Camusio is a serial entrepreneur, marketing speaker, author of The Internet Marketing Bible and CEO of The Outsourcing Company, an Internet marketing agency based out of Portland, Oregon.

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8 Responses

1. 

   1

   Yaniv 
   

   Really nice post. The delegating tips are great for everyone who needs to manage people.

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   2

   Claire Wagner 
   

   Zeke, great post 7 I’m definitely bookmarking it. I think it points to the power of collaboration with your peers. I’m a one-person shop but have alliances with several colleagues and we are trying to find ways to support each other and market together. It helps a LOT. Yaniv is also right about the delegating tips.

3. 

   3

   Diana 
   

   I really am enjoying.Thank you.

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   4

   Jyoti 
   

   Hi Zeke, Everyone knows one needs to delegate but the tips you have brought out on how to delegate effectively are very useful.

   I also liked the point you mentioned about talking to others about the problems. I have seen this to work very well. We a group of 4-5 entrepreneur friends meet every month to brainstorm about problems each one is facing in their business and I have seen useful suggestions coming out of it which I might not have thought on my own.

   Thanks for sharing these lessons. Great post.

5. 

   5

   Zeke Camusio 
   

   That’s great advice, Claire! Thank you for sharing that!

   Zeke

6. 

   6

   Zeke Camusio 
   

   You’re welcome!

   Zeke

7. 

   7

   Zeke Camusio 
   

   Jyoity, thank you so much for sharing your experiences!

   Zeke

8. 

   8

   Mithu Basu 
   

   Hi Zeke,
   Every lesson of yours is ‘So oft experienced but never so simply said’. Chanced upon them at the right time. I am on the threshold of staring my own business. i have an experience to illustrate your advice on sleep over the problem. When playing soduku sometimes you stare at the squares and hit a block, you can struggle for hours and yet nothing moves forward. in exassperation you put the paper away and next minute you pick it up the right number simply steps foward as if it was the obvious. Lesson learnt ‘sleep’ is just a moment of time required to get the mind off the problem.