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.

Related:

• March 7, 2008 -- Start your own business NOW .. the things they didn’t tell you (5)
• March 7, 2008 -- 7 reasons why a media kit is important for your web business (2)
• March 7, 2008 -- Don’t give your web design clients prices on the phone .. or email (9)
• April 16, 2009 -- Friends and relatives – to work with them or not? (17)
• September 29, 2008 -- Start low or get a 200K loan? (22)

But how can you advertise your site in an elegant manner that would most likely convince your business partners to use your site(s) for promotion? By creating a media kit. Let’s try to see some of it’s uses and the resons it’s a good choice when it comes to present your business:

• you have it prepared all time. When coming to discuss with a potential client in a webmaster forum for instance you make an offer and have to write all the details each time. When you have a media kit, you just send the link and some comments.
• it’s online when you are not. Most of the time we put our media kit on the server with a visible link on the site. When people see it, they can reach for the information fast and with no other efforts from you. While you sleep or work in other areas of the business, people have access to your advertising rates and all the information.
• you can style it and brand it. What’s better: a post written in a forum or a nicely “packaged” media kit? Guess which has more chances to impress?
• it shows professionalism. A well designed presentation, with useful information (such as history of the site, advertising rates, statistics, demographics) will always make your potential client aware that you are indeed “doing business”.
• you can present all the information without worrying about the fact you might forget something. We all know how stressed we get and how hard is sometimes to focus on the message we have to send. Exhaustion or stress cause us to lose some of our mental focus and mistakes can happen. And if you give the wrong price, you know you just have to accept the deal, even if the payment is less than you wanted. With a media kit, all the information is prepared in a timely manner, you can make adjustments and corrections and then only provide the final presentation.
• your potential client has it on his computer for future referrence. A link in a forum might get saved in his bookmarks. Some don’t even bother bookmark them. But a nice media kit will be saved on his computer in a special folder (with other offers) and your client has it there to consult it whenever he needs it. And if he wants to start another advertising deal, there are huge chances he’ll try look to what he has stored on the computer.
• the biggest sites in the industry have them. The “big players” have media kits. They don’t have to answer to thousands of questions like “how much for a banner?” .. they just have a presentation anyone can see and only afterwards contact them. The big sites know the importance of a media kit and it’s been very useful to them. There is no reason why another site, no matter how small or big, wouldn’t benefit from this.

These are just 7 reasons why we can do better business with a media kit. Please feel free to add more in your comments, should you get more ideas. And for future referrence, here is OUR MEDIA KIT.

Related:

• March 7, 2008 -- Do you want to be efficient? Learn to delegate! (1)
• March 7, 2008 -- Start your own business NOW .. the things they didn’t tell you (5)
• March 7, 2008 -- Don’t give your web design clients prices on the phone .. or email (9)
• April 16, 2009 -- Friends and relatives – to work with them or not? (17)
• September 29, 2008 -- Start low or get a 200K loan? (22)

What I totally dislike is the fact most such articles just brag about the positives and don’t tell their readers about the possible problems they might run into.

Working on your own might be the best thing that happens to you or the thing that ruins your life forever. Let’s set the record straight and try to see through the “fancy talk”.

Here are the things THEY DIDN’T TELL YOU:

1. You can earn lots of money

One of the best reasons to start a business: make lots of money. Or at least that would be the plan. Still at first ANY business needs money. You won’t get rich in 2 days. You might pay for your business months to come in order to develop. Work yourself senseless and not be able to have a decent salary since your business would require all the financial effort you can muster.

2. You work for yourself only

One of the reasons most quit their daily job: they are sick of abusive bosses (or just sick of having someone “more important” then them into the firm. Well, you can surely be your own boss in your own firm. This means no one to correct you anymore. This means you need to be able to see on your own where you do something wrong and maybe not repeat the mistakes others did when it came to relating to you.

Being your own boss is a “gift” but also a curse. You need to be mature enough to deal with all the problems. Even if a pain most of the times our bosses DO have a reason in the end. You’ll have to become a good manager since there’s no one to “abuse” you anymore, but you won’t get any guidance anymore.

3. You make your own schedule and set deadlines

This is one of the slippery slopes: we are too pleased to make our own schedule we forget that in the end this is NOT easy at all. Instead of having someone set our plans, we need to start thinking about how to manage all the projects, what’s a good deadline, if we can “fit” into these numbers etc.

There are 2 possibilities: you either set loose schedules and are not productive, or you overwork yourself by trying to achieve too much in less time: this leads to exhaustion and loss of productivity.

4. You can have spare time when you want

We all hated when we had to go to the normal job. We don’t like a 9-5 program. After getting your own firm you can now set your own hours. This usually goes like this: you work most of the day since you know otherwise you can’t make it. Too few entrepreneurs afford a lose schedule. If you do spend too much time on your own, your business will die. If you work too much you’d affect your social/family life. It’s hard to keep a balance.

5. No one will control you

Oh yeah, this is the big thing: not having anyone to comment you’re not doing the job as you are supposed to, no one to control and keep record of your deeds. This alone may make you want to start a business now. It’s great to not have to respond for what you do, but this also means you need to know how to run that business. As I previously mentioned a boss does have a reason.

6. You can work from home .. how nice is that ..

It’s just awesome .. you wake up and work, eat and work .. no more buses to go with, no more trains or heavy traffic. Working from home is cool. This also means most of the time you are alone there, you need to set some ground rules with your family (they have to understand that your job is serious and you need peace and quiet). You will mostly stay indoors. If you are truly overwhelmed with work you might not leave the house for days. How cool is that now?

These are just few of the things I wanted to outline. I don’t advice ANYONE AGAINST this. I have my own firm for 6 months now and it’s a blast. It’s great to be able to manage your own business, make some mistakes and learn from them. And earn some nice money from all your efforts.

There are also many things that make it hard: I work too much, I don’t have enough time for me and my family, I don’t have anyone to turn to for guidance and advice. I am my own boss now, but I learn now the hard way: by trial and error. I was lucky enough to be on profit from the first day, but it’s still small and a lot of work.

I don’t tell you to not open a business. Please do so .. but do try to see all the things this means, aside of those nice motivational articles. Best of luck

Not all 70-294 and 70-536 professionals are pat for 70-642 or 642-642 series and hence before they qualify for 642-845, they will need to write 350-018.

Related:

• March 7, 2008 -- Do you want to be efficient? Learn to delegate! (1)
• March 7, 2008 -- 7 reasons why a media kit is important for your web business (2)
• March 7, 2008 -- Don’t give your web design clients prices on the phone .. or email (9)
• April 16, 2009 -- Friends and relatives – to work with them or not? (17)
• September 29, 2008 -- Start low or get a 200K loan? (22)

The message I got looked something like this: “Hello, I represent a Real Estate agency. I would like to know how much a web site would cost”.

Here are some of my reasons to not disclose pricing to a prospective client on the phone or on email BEFORE meeting in person:

1. Some might be competitors who’d like to adjust prices .. we all know that on the internet or on the phone we can be whoever we want. I wouldn’t disclose my pricing without discussing face to face.
2. Some just look at the price tag .. these are not the clients I want. I don’t have huge prices, I don’t have them too small. Some might work for less, others work for way more. The clients who just look at the pricing would be those to cling on anything that might get them less money and more job from you. I don’t like to haggle. I just give a price. Leave it or take it.
3. How can we offer a price without knowing what the site is about? My client might be interested in a simple presentation site, in a forum or a shopping cart. They are all different as working time and technologies are concerned: how can I offer a price tag for my services if I don’t know what’s expected from me?

These are my 3 main reasons for not discussing pricing with unknown people on the phone or through the email system. Did you have similar experiences? What did you do?

Related:

• March 7, 2008 -- My way to see a portfolio … (1)
• March 7, 2008 -- Do you want to be efficient? Learn to delegate! (1)
• March 7, 2008 -- 7 reasons why a media kit is important for your web business (2)
• March 7, 2008 -- Start your own business NOW .. the things they didn’t tell you (5)
• April 24, 2010 -- What does your site bring to the table? (2)