Delegating is one of the HARDEST things for interior designers to do! We tell ourselves that if we just do a task then we'll save money. Or that it takes longer to tell someone else how to do it than to just do it ourselves. None of that is true!! You are the biggest money-maker in your company, so why in the world would you waste your time doing things that are not essential to making that money?! Make a list of everything that you do and start thinking about what you should hand off to someone else - and that can be a contractor or an employee. While you're making your list, include these 5 things that you should DEFINITELY delegate!

1. Bookkeeping

Please do not tell me that you are still handling your own bookkeeping and invoicing. Did you go to accounting school? Do you just love to crunch numbers? Then WHY are you doing it?? There are so many fantastic bookkeepers and accountants out there, including a lot of people who specialize in interior design clients. This is one thing that you need to hand off to a professional - TODAY.

2. Website Updates

This is another task that should definitely be left up to the professionals. Unless you're doing a major redesign, this also should not cost you a lot of money! Find someone who specializes in your website's platform (WordPress, SquareSpace, etc.) and put them to work. Usually it takes us SO much longer to do those updates because we aren't IT gurus, right?!? So find someone who is and take this job off of your VERY long to-do list.

3. Organizing the Workroom

If you spent the weekend trying to get all your fabric samples into some sort of order, then you just wasted a whole lot of valuable time. Do NOT do the mundane tasks yourself - you can ALWAYS find someone to help with things like that. It doesn't even take any institutional knowledge to handle an organizational job. Hire an intern, or a teen who needs to make some extra cash. If you give them instructions on what you need, they should be able to handle it so YOU do not have to.

4. Installation Day Prep

If you've read my blog posts about installation day, you know that there is a lot of prep that requires gathering tools and necessities. But that does not mean YOU should be the one to do that! Once you have a great installation checklist, you can hand that off to an assistant and let them be responsible for getting everything together. You need to keep your attention on the actual install and taking care of your clients!

5. Errands

Need new samples picked up or dropped off? Want to drop a gift off at a client's house? Ready to send off a big marketing mailing? Hire someone to run all over town FOR you! The minutiae can literally eat away at our day and prevent us from getting the REALLY important things done. Don't let that happen to you - find a good assistant to help you check things off your list.

I'm ready to help you, too! Download my FREE Guide to Help You Delegate with Ease here! And start filling out your delegation forms right now!