Delegating Doesn’t Mean Losing Control

Delegating work, even creative work, does not have to mean losing control over the result.

With hundreds of competitors in every niche, the amount of quality content, information products, engagement, and support needed for success is higher than ever.

Trying to do all of the work yourself is a recipe for failure.

David Ziembicki, Expert Business Agency

When I talk to creators and solopreneurs about delegating, their common objections are budget and whether they are ready.

But there is another objection, often unstated, but in their mindset: No one can do the work the way I do.

Are all my fellow perfectionists nodding your heads?

What if there’s a typo that gets published? Gasp!

What if an image just doesn’t look quite right? Gasp!

What if we publish the wrong information? Gasp! (and faint)

Especially in the space I cover here, building a business around your expertise.

You ARE the expert! You may even be world-class in what you do.

How can you delegate critical portions of that without the above risks?

By using the same framework I mentioned a few issues ago—a simple three-step process.

For anything you want to delegate:

1. Figure it out (You)
2. Write it out (You or your virtual COO/Online Business Manager)
3. Delegate it out (team, freelancers, agency)

Step 1: Figure It Out

As the expert, the one figuring it out will be you.

The main idea is taking your process and systemizing it.

There is a saying along the lines of “You aren’t truly a master/expert unless you can teach someone else to be”

So take this as a challenge with dual benefits: if you can teach and delegate much of what you know, then you can also turn that into products and programs for your business.

Step 2: Write It Out

This step is where you, or if you have a virtual COO or Online Business Manager they, document your processes in standard operating procedures (SOPs).

Writing it down is essential for delegation.

One of the most efficient ways to do this is to screen record and

talk through YOUR process for doing the work, then have your vCOO create the SOPs from it.

Step 3: Delegate It Out

Here’s the payoff: with solid SOPs in hand, you just need to find resources with the raw skills (writing, design, tech) to execute the SOPs.

If you have a vCOO, they can find and manage the resources so you don’t have to.

If you don’t, with the SOPs, you can easily validate potential hires by giving them a test task or two of executing the key SOPs.

Example: Delegating Blog Writing (WTF?)

Say you want to delegate out the writing of blog posts.

You know I believe it is critical that you, as the creator/expert, should author your own original content.

But even then, 90% of the process can STILL be delegated.

Here are a few examples:

• Figure out and write down your process for coming up with ideas, then delegate that to a team member to generate ideas for you. They could check all the main news sources in your niche for topic ideas each week.
• For the given topic, as the expert, you would create the outline and the main points you want to make. Then, you could figure out and write down your process for finding statistics, quotes, and images aligned to each outline element and delegate that out.
• With a detailed outline in place that you’ve reviewed, you CAN delegate the article’s writing to a person, AI, or both. If you’ve created and trained the AI copy of your brain that I mentioned in a previous issue, the writing can be very close to what you would have written yourself.
• With a final draft in place, you can either be the editor and review or delegate that. You can certainly delegate the technical side of publishing the post, optimizing SEO settings, etc.

The figure it out, write it out, and delegate it out method is the way to offload even creative work without losing control over the results.

Take Action

As a challenge, take the process YOU spend the most time on, which is most essential to your business.

It could be content creation, product creation, or marketing.

1. Figure it out: Break it down into steps and processes. Make sure to have steps where YOU provide specific direction, ideas, and reviews.
2. Write it out: Record and write down the key steps you do in the process
3. Delegate it out: Delegate the execution of the SOPs to freelancers with the right core skills for each.
4. Before publishing, review the work. If there are any issues, fix them AND revise the SOPs to catch them the next time.

Just a few cycles of this approach can help you delegate large portions of even the most complex or creative work that you do.