5 Delegation Tips for Busy Business Owners (And Why It’s So Hard To Do).
If you run a business, chances are you’ve said one of the following at least once:
“I’ll just do it myself.”
“It’ll be quicker if I do it.”
“It only takes five minutes.”
And somehow those five-minute jobs turn into half your working week.
Delegation is often talked about as the magic solution to business overwhelm, but nobody really talks about how uncomfortable it can feel at first. Handing work over can feel strange, especially when you’ve built your business yourself and know exactly how you like things done.
But here’s the honest truth: learning to delegate is one of the biggest turning points in business growth.
Not because you’re incapable.
But because your time is too valuable to spend it doing everything.
Why delegation matters more than you think
Most business owners don’t struggle because they lack ability or ambition. They struggle because they become the centre of every single task.
You start the business doing everything, admin, marketing, invoicing, emails, diary management, research, social media, and before long, you’re busy all day but still feel like nothing important moves forward.
Sound familiar?
Delegation isn’t about stepping away from your business. It’s about creating space to actually lead it.
When you delegate well, you gain:
- more focus
- clearer thinking
- fewer late evenings
- and a business that doesn’t rely entirely on you being available 24/7
1. Start small (seriously, smaller than you think)
One of the biggest mistakes people make when they begin delegating is trying to hand over too much too quickly.
You don’t need to outsource your entire business overnight.
Start with one task. Just one.
Something repetitive. Something predictable. Something that quietly eats your time each week, inbox tidying, diary scheduling, document formatting, uploading content, chasing paperwork.
Small wins build confidence. And confidence makes delegation easier the next time.
2. Delegate the jobs you secretly hate
We all have them. The tasks we avoid. The ones that sit on the to-do list all week. The jobs that somehow feel heavier than they should.
Those tasks don’t just take time, they take energy.
Delegating the work that drains you is often the fastest way to feel more productive again. Suddenly you’re spending your day doing the parts of your business you actually enjoy, which is probably why you started your business in the first place.
3. Be clear about the outcome (not just the job)
Here’s where delegation often falls down.
You ask someone to help, but you forget that they don’t live inside your brain.
Instead of simply saying, “Can you sort this?”, explain what success looks like. What’s the goal? What matters most? What does “done” actually mean?
Clear expectations save time, reduce frustration, and make the whole experience smoother for everyone involved.
Good delegation isn’t about control, it’s about communication.
4. Accept it won’t be done exactly your way
This is usually the hardest part. When you’ve been doing everything yourself for years, it’s natural to have a “right way” of doing things. But delegation isn’t about creating a clone of yourself.
Someone else might organise things differently. They might approach tasks from another angle. And sometimes (and I say this with a whisper) their way might even be better.
If the result is right, allow space for different working styles. That’s where real support begins.
5. Create simple systems (future you will thank you)
Delegation becomes dramatically easier when you stop relying on memory alone.
You don’t need complicated processes. A quick checklist, a shared document, or a short screen recording explaining how you normally do something is often enough.
Simple systems mean fewer repeated explanations and smoother collaboration. They also make your business feel calmer and more organised overall.
Why working with a Virtual Assistant is often the easiest first step
Successful business owners aren’t superheroes. They’re simply people who realise that doing everything themselves eventually limits growth.
If delegation feels like a big leap, working with a Virtual Assistant could be the gentlest way to start.
A VA allows you to dip your toe into delegation without handing over everything at once. You can begin with small administrative tasks, build trust gradually, and learn what support actually looks like in practice.
Many business owners discover that once they start delegating, they don’t just gain time, they gain mental space. And that’s often the biggest transformation of all.
Testimonials
Here at Koobr, we hired Assistopia and Andrea to assist with client communication, project management, CRM administration and many more things. Andrea also identified areas of the business where we could make more money, a task which resulted in generating income that more than paid for her role for a year.
We think of Andrea as an integral and essential part of our team, all of the staff love working with her!
One of the great things about working with Andrea is that she’s not just virtual – she attends team meetings, keeps herself up-to-date with our operational challenges and offers suggestions on how to help.Andrea and Assistopia have been instrumental in improving our invoicing process significantly and now our credit control is actually under control thanks to her hard work. She even handles our tediously boring jobs quickly and with a smile too!
I’ve worked with Assistopia with 2 organisations and it is clear to see that Andrea is organised, dedicated and asks the right questions and can work autonomously with the ability to push on a project. She is diligent and demonstrates her experience time and time again. I would recommend!
Andrea helps me with research projects. She is friendly and professional and always delivers on time and to brief. By working with Andrea, I’m able to free up some of my time so I can expand what I’m able to do for my clients.
It’s been really great working with Andrea and Assistopia. Andrea is very organised and professional – exactly what I needed from a virtual assistant. Highly recommended.
Andrea is the Donna to my Harvey!
Assistopia and Andrea have been such a help to me and my business. Andrea is a self starter, flexible, approachable and extremely professional. I would not hesitate in recommending her and Assistopia to anyone.
When I looked for a virtual assistant in Derby, I came across Andrea from Assistopia and asked her to help me complete a complex digital administrative task that I was finding very time consuming. Andrea came to the table with a quick understanding of what needed completing, took full ownership of the task and I couldn’t be happier with the end result. Highly recommended.
