Entrepreneurs are independent. It’s one of the personality traits that turn them from employees to entrepreneurs. But it’s also a personality trait that can be a downfall when left unchecked. Why is this? Because no one person can handle everything that comes with running a fledgling business.
Marketing is one of the most important parts of launching a new business. For this reason, delegation becomes important for an entrepreneur in order for the business to reach its full potential. But this is often much easier said than done.
Why do some people have trouble with delegation? For starters, it can be difficult for a person used to taking charge to relinquish the control they’ve become accustomed to. This is an ongoing struggle for many independent workers, but delegating can be improved just like any other skill.
Lightening the Load
Another reason some are averse to delegation is from poor past experience. Delegation only works if the person in charge of delegated duties steps up to the plate and does work to expectations. If someone has a poor experience with delegating tasks, it makes them wary of doing it again.
But delegation is important, as difficult as it may be to let go of tasks and responsibilities.
Not every entrepreneur is a marketing expert, for example. They may have a general understanding of marketing language, but the deeper facets — analytics, strategy, algorithms — are often more complex and require a deeper understanding. By outsourcing some of the marketing duties to a professional, the entrepreneur accomplishes two things: freeing up time and giving an expert the opportunity to take a project and run with it.
With this new free time, the entrepreneur or business owner can do what they are good at — building a company and networking to grow it. This is a large enough undertaking as it is!
Set Expectations
When doing some hiring of employees or independent contractors, it’s important to exercise due diligence and properly set expectations for what should come out of the partnership. This can help set the entrepreneur’s mind at ease as they weed through potential candidates to find a good match.
When it comes to marketing, finding a professional who works well with entrepreneurs and/or startups is important. This person will, ideally, have a strong sense of working independently and a humble attitude that makes them willing to accept constructive feedback. The contractor or employee should also be reliable and trustworthy. When work is put on their desk, there should never be doubts as to whether or not it will get done.
Responsibility and Trust
There is also a responsibility for the entrepreneur. While it can be difficult to not have every piece of work done “the way you would do it”, this does not make work done by others “wrong”. Setting proper expectations for how to complete work should be done but at some point the entrepreneur also has to put their trust in the person they’ve hired.
Entrepreneurship is not a light undertaking, and it requires a special type of person. Often, this type of person feels the need to do all of the legwork themselves. This leads to burnout, mistakes, and poor work quality. By utilizing the skill of responsible delegating, a company can truly grow thanks to the effort of a team rather than one very harried person.
Ronn Torossian is the CEO of 5WPR. Torossian writes for Entrepreneur Magazine and others.W