SPOILER ALERT: You're Stopping Your Business From Growing (And You're Not Alone)

When you first start out, being a “one-man band” isn’t just a money saving strategy, it’s a necessity. The key is to recognise at what point this approach is stopping your business from growing, because your lack of time or knowledge is holding it back.

Everybody starts the day with the same amount of time, but we’re often guilty (me included!) of being merrily efficient at doing the wrong things. It’s easy to give yourself a pat on the back doing the sort of tasks that anyone could be doing, when you should be working on things only you have the expertise to do.

Yep, you could save some money by doing absolutely everything yourself, but what about the cost of your time? Getting bogged down in administration can easily take your eyes away from important decisions.

68% of business owners spend time operating their business, and just 32% on the pursuit of growing it.

The statistic above suggests leaders spend just a third of their time trying to move their businesses forward. In the same survey by the Alternative Board , the majority work at least 50 hours a week yet most of their time was spent answering emails, dealing with clients and managing employ issues. No surprises that only 34% thought they dealt with stuff that was truly important .

Another survey – from OfficeMax – shows this is taking its toll, with 41% of respondents saying administrative tasks sap their passion and energy for running their companies.

No one loves every task equally, and if there are things you find yourself avoiding because you just don’t like doing them, it could be something you could delegate it to someone who does. Whether it’s doing the books, or figuring out how to post on Instagram, don’t struggle on just because no one else is available – the extra time you are taking on tasks due to a lack of knowledge isn’t saving you money, it’s costing you opportunity.

The solution is pretty simple: work on what you are best at, and delegate the rest. Whatever your area of expertise, it isn’t the 15 other things you’re trying to manage every day.

We come to a serious cross-road here - committing to taking on more staff can be a daunting decision. Will you have enough work for them? Will it work out? Will you win enough business to be able to afford their wages? If you want your business to get bigger, something needs to be done to free up your time.

So what could you do if you had no admin to do today? Perhaps call your most important clients that you haven’t spoken to in a while or - better yet – follow up on those leads. You could finally give some time on planning out and setting some objectives for that new business idea, just like those surveyed successful leaders who dedicate some of their day to strategic thinking every single day.

There is a compromise! You could get an experienced helping hand without paying the wages of a new staff member. Clare Runham runs the virtual assistant company Miss MPS , which helps small business owners with a range of time-sapping admin tasks.