Need more time for your small business? SOPs could be the answer

You’ve built your business with dreams, hard work, money, and sleepless nights. You have considered hiring a VA (virtual assistant) so you can focus on the bigger goals, but you worry about delegating your work. Creating written guidelines can smooth the transition and ease your concern when bringing on new contractors or employees.

Does one or more of these worries persist when you think of outsourcing work?

• It’s just faster to do it myself. Many entrepreneurs (and parents! and managers!) feel this way about bringing in help. It’s hard to delegate, when you have developed a method that works for you and your clients.

• Training takes too much time, and I’m already overwhelmed. Training any new team member can add to your already full plate–but if you have SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures) in place, your hands-on time with your team can be focused on other priorities since the basics will be built-in.

• I don’t want quality of work to suffer. You have spent time, energy and dollars to create your business. Your customers rely on you for the quality of work you provide. How can you ensure the work (which could include graphic design, physical products, social media posts, etc) will meet your standards?

Creating guidelines helps you, too.

• Taking time to outline different tasks might shine a light on something that can be done more efficiently.

• Your business reflects your style. By listing your steps from start to finish on a task, you demonstrate the care and necessity of each step. And you might even find a way to make it more efficient by working though it!

• New tools may change the way you work. When completing regular audits of your business, take the time to review your SOPs and update as needed. Your business probably isn’t static, so make sure earlier SPOs align with your current model.

You hold your business to high standards.

• Standard Operating Procedures are an important tool in creating consistency in your business, and it’s worth taking the time to write them out and discover what’s truly important to your success.

• Block out an hour to brainstorm this week. Challenge yourself to finding at least one necessary task you would rather not do, and outline the steps you follow to complete the work. You’re one step closer to more time!

Bonus! Virtual Assistants generally work by contract.

• Since VAs are not employees, taxes and insurance aren’t your concern–you can contract for five hours per week, ten hours per month, or as needed! This allows more time for you to focus on why you started your business, and keep it growing.

What can you delegate next month? Time to brainstorm and find out!