Most of the time, copywriters do everything themselves. In the blog we’re going to explor the importance of freelancer delegation.
Every independent entrepreneur must deal with making quotations, sending out invoices, marketing, building a website, and numerous other important and less important tasks.
One of the very first sentences I uttered as a child was ‘Lemme do it’. What can I say, I was rather (read: incredibly) stubborn from the get go, a character trait that hasn’t always worked in my favour. Surrendering control? Outsourcing tasks? Hell no. If it were up to me, I’d do every little thing myself, but the question is if that’s always the best way to go.
Delegation-related issues
However, it seems I’m not the only (freelance) copywriter with delegation-related issues. Most of the time, copywriters do everything themselves: making quotations, sending out invoices, marketing, building a website and dozens of other important and less important tasks every independent entrepreneur must deal with. That’s all very well, but each day has only twenty-four hours, and when you keep doing everything yourself, that leaves less and less time to work on the most important aspects of your business, like making content. I’m just using copywriters, my own profession, as an example here, but I’d dare say I’d eat my favourite hat if this isn’t a problem many other entrepreneurs and freelancers struggle with as well.
Signs you’re headed for burnout
All those additional odd jobs aren’t particularly conducive to your mood and in the long run you’ll be headed straight towards a burnout. It’s practically impossible to cram each of those tasks in a normal work week, especially if you’d like to have some time left to socialise or even just to drag a vacuum cleaner through your house.
Let’s be fair, ‘Lemme do it’ isn’t a sustainable strategy. On the contrary, it’ll probably result in nothing but stress and sleep deprivation. So, come on, do yourself a favour and outsource a few of the items on your to-do list. Believe me, you’ll thank me later. Delegating tasks will save you countless hours, since you can reclaim all that time to work on your core business. Time that would otherwise be spent working on tasks which, no matter the mood you were in beforehand, always manage to make you cranky. Yay for tax returns.
‘Does it spark joy?’ – Marie Kondo
You can always rely on the wise words of the world’s favourite decluttering guru, Marie Kondo, to help you determine which tasks you should delegate to others: ‘Does it spark joy?’ Just the thought of some of these tasks might make you go ‘ew’ and want to postpone them for as long as humanly possible. Oh, another great tip is to always pose the question ‘Would I rather do this or would I rather clean out the cat’s litter box/organise my bills in alphabetical order/repeatedly bang my head into a wall?’ Chances are, if your preference lies with one of the latter options, you know what to do.
How do you actually start delegating?
Up next is the practical part. How do you go about this whole delegating thing? Where do you begin and what are the most common pitfalls?
- Every time you’re facing a new task, determine whether this is something you should/want to/can do yourself, or if it’d be best to leave it in the hands of someone who would do it both better and faster.
- Visualise how you want the tasks you’ll be outsourcing to be executed. Being clear about your wishes and expectations is not only beneficial to yourself, it’s also helpful for the person/company that will be managing the tasks for you.
- Ensure you choose the right person/company for the job. Take the time to look around and don’t just go with whoever you happen to stumble upon first.
- Be clear. Straightforward communication is key. Clearly convey what you want, both in terms of content and deadlines, and don’t hesitate to give feedback when you’ve been handed something that doesn’t meet your expectations (otherwise you’ll risk the exact same thing happening next time).
You, too, can be an even freer freelancer. And though I don’t know which tasks you’d like to outsource to others, I can say with certainty that Ludejo is always happy to help you with translations, (multilingual) online content, technical documentation, and video and audio productions. Our job is to help and support you so you can focus on other matters. It’s up to you whether you’d like to devote that newly acquired extra time working on your business, or you’d rather grab yourself a good book and pay a long-awaited visit to the hammock in your backyard.
Interested in what Ludejo can do for you(r organisation)? Contact us via pm@ludejo.eu. Our dedicated team is always ready to help.
