Delegate when you are overwhelmed.

Small business owners in their zeal to expand their business, tend to bite off more than they can chew. I am not saying that is wrong or unacceptable. It completely gets them by surprise when more than 5 marketing leads display symptoms of maturing into business deals, all during the same time. The business owner is indeed overwhelmed at the good news of a new business deal, or, should I say “few” new business deals. This is indeed a happy moment for the team.

It is normal to see the in house activities take a backseat during these times. Most times, it is the last minute scramble for getting things done for ourselves when we are overwhelmed at work. I have witnessed that the same goes true for small business owners as well. The fact of the matter is, existing staff is already working on the newest deal and it is difficult to get a new recruit and train him / her within a short time.

I would recommend that you seek virtual assistants who have prior experience in the kind of tasks that is causing a backlog in your business. This does not completely eliminate the training period, at least you now have some one who speaks the same business language. My bet is, with just a couple of mails, outlining , ‘What need to be done’ – ‘ When it has to be done’ – ‘Any particular way in which you want it to be done’. With these, the induction programme is complete.

Think about this, you can be overwhelmed about your new deals without having the nagging thought about in-house backlogs. Now, isn’t that a better way to be overwhelmed?