How Do I Delegate Tasks to An Assistant?
This really is a 2-part question and these are the things I’m asked over and over again when it comes to working with assistants. And they mainly have to do with the ability to delegate and creating a sense of trust with your helper. Here’s the questions:
1. Doesn’t it take more time to delegate tasks and give instructions than to do the job myself?
2. How can I be sure that my assistant completes her tasks and can I trust him/her with my passwords?
How to Delegate Efficiently
Let me ask you a question. In the “real corporate world” (in contrast to the Internet entrepreneur world), who makes more money? The person who attends to all the administrative tasks and little details…or the manager who delegates tasks to these people ? I think the answer is obvious, isn’t it?
In most cases, the person who delegates makes more money because corporations value this skill in their managers and executives. If you want to move up your own equivalent to the “corporate ladder”, don’t get stuck working as your own assistant. You need to learn to delegate! If you’re not sure WHAT to delegate, read this article first.
As far as how to delegate efficiently and how to work with an assistant here’s some tips:
1. Realize there’s a learning curve. Don’t jump from assistant to assistant if you can help it…once someone is familiar with your business it’s easier to give tasks.
2. Give them repeat tasks…but definitely use them for those little things you just can’t seem to get to and keep you from being efficient in your business.
3. Create an FAQ. For example, if your assistant asks you a question because she doesn’t know how to handle a certain situation, paste her question and your answer into an FAQ that you and all your assistants can access in the future.
4. Create a “Business Manual” that summarizes everything about your business and operating procedures. This allows you to give prewritten instructions to your assistant, but also serves a bigger and more important purpose. If something should happen to you, you need to make sure your family can step in and keep your business going in your absences.
5. Consider a service like WorkAHolics4Hire where they can delegate various tasks to the appropriate skilled people. That way you only have to communicate with one person to ensure everything gets done properly.
A few tools I recommend in working with your assistants:
ScreenCam Generator: This is screen capture software that allows you to efficiently teach someone how to do something on your website, how to use your autoresponder account or anything on the computer. Once you’ve created your screen capture video, you have a permanent record that your future assistants can also refer to when they need instruction on the same topic.
TasksPro: This is a project management system that I recently started using and I can’t believe I didn’t do it earlier. Communicating and delegating tasks through email can become a confusing process. Emails get lost, information is all over the place and it can become a nightmare.
TasksPro allows me to create tasks, assign priority and completion dates for my assistants. My assistants can add their own notes, track their time and mark tasks as completed. I can also add permanent notes that include instructions that all my assistants can refer to when needed. TasksPro is becoming my “business manual” as I recommended above.
So, now you have some ideas on how to give instruction and work with your assistants, but can you really trust them?
Creating a Sense of Trust
The fact of the matter is, hiring someone to help with your business is a risk, but in my humble opinion, it’s way riskier to continue to try to attend to every detail in your business. Some assistants may do a bad job, some may disappear after doing a bit of work for you or you may get lucky and find some great people to help you in your business. In my experience over the years, I usually have found those great people who have been invaluable to my business.
If you’re not sure whom to trust, take a recommendation from a friend or fellow business owner. Personally, I recommend WorkAHolics4Hire as I mentioned earlier in this article. You’ll also find as you work more online, you’ll get to know other people who also want to earn money from home…but are happy earning an hourly wage and can be great helpers in your business.
You can give small tasks first and see how timely they are and if they do a good job. Slowly, give them more and more work as you feel comfortable…just make sure you do give more work! Just remember to be patient. There is a learning curve and you need to take that into account. Once they know what they’re doing, you’ll wonder how you lived without them.
You should also have a system to ensure that tasks are being completed. I already mentioned TasksPro and there are certainly other similar programs.
Everyone worries about giving out passwords, but you can’t dwell on it. If you want to keep doing the work yourself, go ahead and hoard your passwords (but I’ll tell you that you’re crazy!). Passwords can be changed and you can limit access. If you’re worried about your web server, make sure you do frequent backups. If you need to give someone access to your PayPal account for bookkeeping purposes, limit the things they can do while logged into your account.
The main thing is get started! You won’t know if you can trust people until you give them a chance. If they don’t work out, just move on. If you’ve created a “business manual” or instruction system, you can easily hire and train a new assistant.
Recommended Resources:
Outsourcing Sweetie: Get all the tools you need to start outsourcing the right way.
ScreenCam Generator: screen capture software
TasksPro: project manager software
About: Alice Seba
Alice Seba earns a full-time online income as an entrepreneur and loves to help others achieve the same. With a focus on using content to create relationships, loyalty and results from the written word, she co-owns both a ghostwriting service and a private label content business. To get more tips for your content marketing, visit Contentrix.com - your free resource with plenty of tips and strategies.Freebies
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