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Previous: What's your real shipping cost? By Janet Attard When you run a business, you're responsible for what happens in that business. So you want to be sure that customers always find what they need, or have the services they request made available to them when they want them. You want to be sure that reports are prepared the way you like, printed on heavy-weight stock and shipped as quickly as possible; that phone calls are answered day or night; that the paperwork gets done they way you want; and every effort is made to avoid errors. And you make sure every customer email gets answered within an hour of when they send it. You know you need to keep marketing so you make sure you keep running your ads online and off. And just to get a some extra free marketing efforts going, you spend time regularly posting in online forums and online mailing lists, being sure, of course, to include links to your website. At the end of the day, you fall into bed exhausted. At the end of the week, you look forward to catching up on a few things Saturday morning, which then runs over into Saturday afternoon. And at the end of the month, your business is doing just about the same as it was last month and the month before and last year. What's wrong with this picture? You're doing too much. Instead of spending so much time doing the work of your business, make time to plan your business. Look at all aspects of the business. What things make you the most money? How can you do more things that make you the most money? How could you delegate some of the "doing" you do now to someone other than yourself? Could you cut costs by changing procedures, suppliers, or services? Do you really have to answer every piece of email immediately yourself? Take the time to work on your business instead of working in it. Be the planner and thinker instead of the doer. Try it. You'll not only be able to take the weekends off, but also see your business grow as a result. Comments i wish to thank you for the wonderful job you are doing in transforming me to a great marketer and planner of my business. Posted by: isaac on April 26, 2008 at 4:12 AM I love you're business Know-how news letters - thanks so much. You always seem to have just the rignt articles at the right time for me. Sorry I cant make any new suggestions - as its all good. Keep up the good work & thanks. Posted by: Joy on April 26, 2008 at 7:09 PM I have been trying to delegate some of the things that I am doing. I have people notify about the position but no one is really serious. I base the pay off the task not per hour I am not sure if I should change this or not? Or if I am looking in the wrong areas for help. Could you please give me some advice because right now I am doing everything and it's affecting my business, family, and personal life. Posted by: Alyssa on April 28, 2008 at 10:05 AM It's difficult to give you an answer without knowing more about what it is you're trying to delegate, how much work you would have available and whether you're looking to hire employees or independant contractors. If you're advertising, you also need to be sure your ad targets the kind of people you are looking for. If you only need someone to work for you part time and they don't have to work specific hours, try running an ad that says work schedule is flexible to see if you can attract stay-at-home parents or older workers who want to work just a few hours a week, but be able to adapt their work to their own lives and schedules. Be clear about the type of work that you need done, too, and determine what the hourly rate is for that type of work. Unless the tasks you need done vary greatly in required abilities, a competitive hourly rate is likely to be more appealing than piece work or task-based rates. Posted by: Janet I follow Your Know How Tips and I am succeeding . Thank you for keeping me in a profitable business . carol Posted by: Carol Francis Jubert on May 4, 2008 at 9:09 AM I really thank you for writnig back. I am a real estate investor I am trying to delegate to someone that will be an independent contractor task like: going out to look at the properties for me and take picture of the house and fill out a yes or no sheet about the property. I am also looking for someone to help me with reaching our marketing plan goals: joint venture projects, handing out business cards and flyers, direct mailing, Research the property find the owner on public records, find what the house is worth, call and talk to sellers that are interested in selling their home and call sellers that we are interested in buying their homes. Help locating sellers of vacant houses. I really need help because my business is suffering big time. Any tips or advice you have will be greatly appreciated. Posted by: Alyssa on May 6, 2008 at 3:37 PM It sounds like you need two general types of contractors or employees: I'd figure out what you can afford to pay and what the going rates are for each of those positions, then advertise for either part-time or full time help (depending what you need). If the research position doesn't involve selling, include that fact in your ad for the research position. Some people simply don't like jobs where they have to sell or market anything. Posted by: Janet on May 6, 2008 at 4:39 PM |
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Copyright 1999-2008 by Attard Communications, Inc. and by the individual authors. |
I loved teh business idea of are you doing too much....it has been helpful especially accompanied with the helpful delegation tips...was falling into the trap and wondering what was going wrong, now i know what to do better.. Thank you. I do appreciate all the business ideas posted all the time.
Posted by: Amal Carol on April 25, 2008 at 11:55 AM