More than one small printer has dreamed of letting go of the everyday tasks they are faced with so they could work on more high profile or valuable needs. The question that’s always asked is “how do you let go?”
It’s not easy for some people, as they have boot-strapped their company from the beginning and are completely locked into the control of doing it yourself. Finding someone else to do the work can be extremely stressful, as they could make a mistake, won’t do it the same way as you would, or worse could cost you money.
So how do you make the leap?
First, recognize that there is going to be challenges, mistakes and a lot of “how do you do this?” questions when turning over tasks to someone else. You have to be comfortable with it. It’s going to be ok.
The easiest thing to do is to find a part time worker or temporary worker to help out with some easier chores. Be very clear in giving your expectations for the work they will perform, and be patient in demonstrating and training them for the chores. While they are doing the easier things in your shop such as cleaning and prepping screens, folding shirts, or checking in inventory you can be making sales calls, creating artwork, or invoicing those jobs.
Just think through your tasks and ask yourself what do you need to give up in order to move forward to the next level? There are only so many hours in the day, and working too much “in” your business instead of “on” your business can stagnate your progress.
Another idea to take advantage of technology when you can. Many common business tasks can be automated, or even easier to do than they used to be. Yes, there’s an app for that. Need to deposit a check? Why are you going to the bank when you can use your phone? Need to share some news on social media? Create and manage your social media accounts using apps like Buffer or Hootsuite to populate your channels with posts, and schedule them out weeks in advance. Then of course, you can also manage your shop using tools found in Printavo as well.
Doing something different and thinking about solving your challenges is sometimes very difficult. Just ask yourself “why” you are doing something a certain way? Is there a better solution out there? If you didn’t do that task, how much time would it free up for you to handle a higher priority challenge that needed resolving?
Once you’ve completed a deep dive into your tasks, you may discover that it doesn’t always have to be you handling that chore. Find and hire someone to delegate that item to, and work on more valuable areas of your company.
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