What Exactly You Should Be Asking Your Assistant to Do, and Why It Matters

Having an assistant can be a game changer for many business owners. In fact, I think that it is one of the best ways for an owner to free up their time and start doing more high value tasks. But there is a bit of a learning curve when it comes to knowing how and what to delegate to your new team member. Today I am going to share what might be an unpopular opinion amongst some business owners. But when it comes to having a personal assistant to help you grow as a leader and as a business owner, I think that there are some tasks that you should ask your assistant for help with and some that you might not have even considered as an option. So today, I wanted to share a few different scenarios with you.

Company Tasks.

This usually goes without saying, but handing off tasks that are repetitive in nature or something that is lower level to your assistant will free you up so that you can focus on higher level tasks that help move the needle. This is always a good idea. And as time progresses, you will find more and more tasks that you can get off of your plate and move unto theirs. Most business owners hire assistants to handle the company tasks.

Personal Tasks.

Now comes the controversial part. Should you ask your personal assistant to do personal tasks for you? I think you should. Now, you want to determine what you are comfortable with outsourcing of course, but consider the following scenario. I live in Jackson Hole, so twice a year you have to switch out your snow tires. That involves a trip to my storage unit to pick up my other set of tires, take them to the tire shop, wait around for an hour or two for them to be switched out and then a trip back to the storage unit to put the other tires back into storage. All in all, that’s about three hours of driving and sitting around. Is that the best use of my time? No. Could I be working on my business, absolutely. So, in that scenario, it would make sense to have my assistant handle the tire issue. You want to discuss this with your assistant before asking them to do anything, and again, you both need to be comfortable with the tasks at hand. So, be smart. But there are most likely things that you do every week that could be outsourced to let you focus on the things that bring the most value.

Having an assistant can be a game changer for many entrepreneurs and business owners. And if you are smart about what and how you delegate, you might be amazed at just what you can get accomplished in a week and how much more time you have to spend on high level tasks or spend quality time with friends and family members. Good luck!