As you grow as a freelancer and small business owner, you’ll most likely need to delegate at least some tasks. It could be that you outsource an overflow of work to another freelancer, start an agency and scale so you now have a team, or need to delegate specific tasks to a professional, such as an accountant, payroll specialist, web developer, or graphic designer.
If you’re not used to delegating, it can seem daunting at first because although you pass on the task to someone else, you are still responsible for the outcome.
With this in mind, here are some tips to help you successfully delegate tasks as a freelancer.
Identify what tasks to delegate
The first step is to identify tasks that can be delegated. Anything that eats up your time and doesn’t directly contribute to the profitable running of your freelance business and builds your brand can be good initial candidates, especially if it works out more cost-effective to pay someone else to do it.
For example, if you spend three hours on a tedious, time-consuming task and your hourly rate is $100, that equates to $300. If you can outsource the task for $100, then that’s $200 of your time you’ve saved. Also, think about tasks you really don’t enjoy doing, are relatively easy or repeatable, or are just not good at.
If you are not used to delegating tasks, start with something small. Tasks such as moderating blog comments, scheduling meetings, data entry, and managing your CRM are all examples of relatively small tasks that can be easily outsourced.
You don’t have to focus only on business tasks either. What about domestic and everyday chores and running personal errands? Your time is valuable, so it makes sense if you can delegate tasks like ironing, house cleaning, mowing the lawn, or even food preparation.
Find the right person for the job
Getting the right person for the job is crucial. Whereas more mundane tasks can be effectively delegated to a generalist VA, for other tasks such as accounting or web design, ensure you hire a professional expert.
This is where having a trusted network of skilled professionals comes into its own. You can not only select your delegate team from this pool but also benefit from word-of-mouth recommendations from other freelancers in your network. Read more about networking for freelancers at our post here.
Before you make a selection, make sure you vet them and are confident they have the right experience, skills and aptitude to do the job effectively.
Give clear instructions and don’t micromanage
While it might be tempting to keep tight tabs on what is going on, especially if this is the first task you’ve delegated, try to refrain from micromanaging as it’s discouraging and hinders trust-building. Instead, give clear instructions about the task you want completed and when you want it done.
If it’s a relatively easy or repeatable task, it helps if you have some clear guidelines or a written process in place that lists out who is responsible for what.
Obviously, for professional tasks such as bookkeeping that you have delegated to a professional, you might not have a full written process. Still, even then, you need to issue clear instructions and manage expectations of what you want done and when.
Keep communication channels open
Ensure everyone is on the same page when it comes to communicating with your delegated team members.
You may want to use an online collaboration or project management tool or limit communications to Slack or via email. However, whatever channel you use to communicate, ensure they remain open. This way, if something arises that you need to be informed about before your next check-in or scheduled update, your team will have direct access to you.
You’ll want to keep apprised of the progress of a project, and this is a two-way street; in other words, keep everyone in the know.
Also, depending on the task/project, it may be helpful to deal with just one point of contact.
Have efficient business processes and workflows
Having efficient workflows and clearly defined processes in your freelance business will be helpful when you delegate tasks, but it also helps streamline your day-to-day business.
When it comes to invoicing, it makes sense to use invoicing software to streamline your invoicing and make it easy for clients to pay you.
Invoice Ninja is a leading free invoicing software for small business invoices, fast online payments, expense tracking, and billable tasks. It also includes attractive, professional invoice template designs you can customize with your logo and brand colors.
What’s more, Invoice Ninja lets you connect to thousands of apps via our platform integrators, such as Zapier, Make, Pabbly and more – further speeding up your workflows.
Take a look at some of them here.
Try Invoice Ninja for free here.
Give feedback and encouragement
Finally, good people management includes giving feedback and guidance where applicable.
If someone has done a good job, give them positive feedback and encouragement to boost morale and build trust. This will go a long way toward enhancing the business relationship and keeping reliable, talented professionals on your delegated team.
Likewise, be on hand if team members need support or guidance in performing their tasks.
