In 2018, I learned how to start delegating the hard way. I made expensive mistakes (because you can’t be an expert at everything). And I wasn’t using my team and business resources effectively or efficiently. (So essentially throwing money in the garbage.) I was the only one who could do the job right. Does this sound familiar?
Without a doubt, delegation is something that nearly all new business owners struggle with. However, it is also a practice that, once learnt, will provide significant benefits to not only your business, but also to your personal life!
We created a Digital Delegation Worksheet to help you with this activity, and you can download it for FREE from our online boutique.

STEP ONE
Creating a Task List
The first step in learning the art of delegation is awareness. It requires documenting and analysing the tasks that you already perform on a regular basis. Task monitoring can be tedious, but it’s a worthwhile practice! If you don’t know what needs to be done, how can you delegate it?
In this step, (using the worksheet provided) you will record the tasks you perform over the course of a day, as well as the amount of time it requires.
BONUS TIP: If you plan to permanently grow your team in the future, this task list can also be used later on to help you create a formal job description.
STEP TWO
Categorizing Tasks
Now it’s time to figure out what to delegate. Using our Task Analysis Chart below, you will need to sort the tasks you collected in the first step. Each task will be added into one of these categories. It’s possible that a task applies to one or more categories, but it’s important to choose which category it most applies to. Be brutally honest with yourself!
For example, if you’re a Lash Technician and you love to post on social media – but your efforts don’t deliver the results your business needs – this could fall into two potential categories: like, and weakness.
It’s going to depend on how much you actually like this activity. Would you do it as a hobby? Do you want to read books about social media? Watch movies about it? Spend your savings taking courses to learn more about social media? If it is truly something you are passionate about, put it into the like category. However, if social media doesn’t “light you up” the way we describe above – you might want to consider listing it as a weakness (which is not a bad word, by the way).
If you are a solopreneur, there will definitely be some non-negotiable tasks in the beginning stages of growing your business. Simply use a highlighter or different colour ink to identify these tasks. If you wish to grow your business, these are tasks that can be performed by an employee in the future.
For example, as an Electrician – you need to have the certification and education to actually perform electrical tasks or there could be serious health and legal repercussions.

STEP THREE
Task Analysis + Delegation
Finally! Let’s start delegating! You will need the task list you created from Step 1 to determine how much you need to delegate. At The CTRL Lab, our mission is to help small business owners create and maintain a healthy work/life balance. Using recent studies from Sweden, experts believe that work performance is best when following a 30 hour work week schedule (6 hours per day). However, you are welcome to use the traditional 40 hour work week formula for the purpose of this exercise. With a sustainable weekly time commitment in mind, it’s time to begin delegating the excess tasks.
- First – we are going to start delegating tasks in the weakness category. Hiring someone (whether it be an employee or contractor) with a complimentary skillset will be able to perform these tasks much better than you.
- Now, it’s time to get rid of things you don’t like! It is an injustice to yourself to continue to perform tasks that you don’t like. You will be happier and much more productive when you are doing tasks you are passionate about.
- Just because you are good at something, doesn’t mean you are passionate about it or particularly enjoy performing that task. That is when you delegate tasks in the strengths Your business likely directly benefits from you performing from these tasks, so it might be hard to let them go. However, it’s important to know that the real magic happens when you teach and empower a team to perform these tasks at the same level you have in the past.
- And lastly; you never want to delegate the tasks you like, but it’s important to know when you should. When you find yourself exceeding a sustainable work schedule, (30 – 40 hours a week) it’s time to start delegating the tasks you enjoy. It’s not easy to delegate these tasks, but it is possible and it can be necessary.
And there you have it! A hands-on guide showing you how to get started Digitally Delegating tasks within your business. We hope this helps you take the first step towards growing your business and achieving a more sustainable work/life balance.

WRITTEN BY Amber Roy
Amber Roy is a Digital Delegation expert that specializes in helping clients identify opportunities to delegate. Are you ready to focus on growing your business, rather than constantly working and struggling to get ahead?
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