Most web businesses start from 1. One person, one idea .. not 1 Dollar, but not too much money either. For a small business venture it’s a good idea to not make too many expenses from the day one, this is why most of the time the owner is also the one to work on the projects, meet clients, advertise. It’s something like a “one man band”.

As time goes by the businessman (or woman for the political correctness) gets swamped .. too many projects, too many things and yes, the time is still the same. Not sleeping for days and giving up any personal life won’t solve this, so the new successful business owner needs to start something new, something he’s never done before: DELEGATE.

In this article we’ll try to shed some light over the idea of delegation (and why this is important) and also the ways to make this “power transfer” from you to the other person with no worries and issues.

What does a web businessman have to do that he/she needs to delegate? There are many things to be done. Here are just some of them:

• meeting with the clients
• budget plans and expenses (your own calculations, not those of your accountant)
• phone calls, emails, contacts
• hosting and advertising clients: renewing accounts, setting them, troubleshooting
• promotion and SEO
• design and coding
• article writing

These are just FEW of the things we need to take care of in such a firm. Can 1 person do all this? Yes, for some months .. afterwards this can only lead to lack of efficiency due to exhaustion. And we get to the reasons we should delegate:

• a single person cannot work all this and still not die of exhaustion
• even if it’s “cool” to be the one and only, some need to accept they need help
• a team has more power than a single person
• having someone take care of some time consuming aspects means you can focus now on others, thus incresing efficiency
• it’s normal to delegate some of the work and be able to run the team
• a firm doesn’t mean one person only; in time a firm is a real business, with many employees.

For a new firm having one person only is the norm. Many don’t have the budget to start with a team and, till there is a constant flow of work and clients, it’s not advisable to pay too much on things you can do yourself. But when the time comes to delegate, one should consider this and start thinking about the ways to make the transfer of the duties to another person. Here are some things we need to take into consideration too:

• first of all any “one man show” needs to understand he/she needs help
• we need to understand some people can also do well what we do (I think it’s the hardest thing since many consider they can do something well and no one can do this as they do)
• look for someone who does have the skills. We need to see what work we’ll delegate and find a good person to hire.
• think about payment: per project or per month. In some cases a payment per project is a good idea, in other cases we need to think about an actual wage.
• delegate things that you don’t have to do yourself. In my case it’s clear that I won’t let client meetings or actual design on other hands. Not yet, since they are still important. But I already delegated promotion and content writing and this leaves me a bit more room for the other duties I have.
• discuss all your needs with that person and find about his/her needs. In my case the person is my best friend Adi. I discuss all I want from her from the start. We set some deadlines together and also discuss prices and her needs.
• check how things work and try to see the results. It’s normal for any business person to try and see if this new model works. It should work if all the other conditions are met. From time to time there would be some checking to see how the “delegate” is able to do his job and if he/she has any more needs.

Learning to delegate is a hard thing for people who got used to manage all things on their own. It’s a inner struggle to realize you cannot controll everything anymore and that you do need a helping hand. Chose that helping hand carefully, motivate it, praise that person and learn how to set your own expectations.

Even if a bit “unnatural” at first delegation might be the best thing you have done for your business.

Filed under: Web business by ramona