Is the pain from watching the many balls you’re juggling drop to the ground starting to get to you? Start delegating! Use the resources you already have to systemize and streamline your processes to save you time without hiring an assistant.

Don’t shy away from delegating just because have a small budget.

You could delegate many of the tasks you do every day without spending more than $50 a month.

Delegating, using the resources you already have, is possible. It doesn’t have to be as complicated as you may have previously thought.

Six Ways to Delegate Without Hiring an Assistant

Delegate with Your Email

It’s likely that you get a lot of the same questions coming from new readers and customers.  Instead of typing out the same response multiple times a week, use these strategies:

  • Create a PDF tip sheet to give away as an opt-in gift– if some of the questions you get have to do with problems that you can solve.
  • Write a FAQ page for your site if some of the questions are about how to navigate your site or the types of people you work with.
  • Use the canned responses app in Gmail to load a bunch of pre-planned answers to common questions. When you get an email that fits, you automatically load the canned response and hit send in less than thirty seconds.

These suggestions don’t require any monetary investment and they’ll save you time, showcase you as a professional, and build your list.

Delegate with Your Appointments

  • Use a tool so your clients can book themselves into your calendar to stop wasting time trying to set up appointments.
  • Ask your client questions in advance by using a tool that lets others fill out forms, like Calendly, so you can ask questions before meetings. For example, if you’re a health coach and this person wants to chat with you about becoming a client, you might want to ask them “What made you interested in living a healthier lifestyle?” or “Are you currently exercising on a weekly basis?” This saves you time on the phone and gets you the information you need to show up to your call prepared.

You can save time and be better prepared to serve clients and prospects.

Delegate with Client Communication

  • Create a form for testimonials instead of asking your client via email to give you a testimonial on the latest product or coaching service. Create a form in Wufoo, SurveyMonkey, or Google Forms with predetermined questions that will help you collect the most effective testimonials. When the client fills out the form, you or your assistant will be notified.
  • Automate a series of emails to keep in touch by using your newsletter provider, like Mailchimp. You can ask your audience questions about their progress, introduce them to offerings you have, or share articles from your archives. This helps you keep in touch without individually sending emails to each subscriber.
  • Simplify your contract process so that instead of emailing your clients a PDF of your coaching agreement and then having them scan it back to you, use a system like HelloSig to upload your contracts. That way, your clients can sign the agreement without ever leaving their computer screen.
  • Describe the process of working with you so that you don’t have to describe it to each potential client. Send him or her to a page that outlines major steps. Find a creative way to do this and be as succinct and clear as possible.

Delegating client communication reduces the time it takes to build trust and implement necessary business practices without sacrificing the benefits.

Delegate with Projects

  • Create templates for repeating processes – Take whichever tool you use to keep your tasks in order, like the free project management system Asana, and create templates for repeating processes, like hiring a new assistant or launching a new product. When you have to do this project moving forward, you’ll have your steps already outlined and will only have to add tasks that are specific to the current situation.

When you delegate with your projects, you eliminate the time it would have taken you to reinvent the wheel for something that you’ve done a handful of times in the past, which ensures that you won’t let any critical pieces fall through the cracks.

Six Ways to Delegate Without Hiring an Assistant. Tweet it!

Delegate with Social Media

  • Automate your updates instead of manually sending out an update twice a day on Facebook and Twitter. Use tools like Buffer and Hootsuite.

Delegating social media allows you to focus on engagement with your audience.

What tasks are you tired of doing?

The best way to know when you need to automate is when you’re tired of doing a task or that task feels repetitive. Usually, there’s a creative way or an online tool to help you turn it into something automatic.

Remember, you don’t have to start implementing all of these delegation strategies at once. Take your time, and experiment with just one a week.

Back To You

Which delegation strategies are you excited to implement? What is one of your go-to delegation strategies?