​How many times have you uttered the words, “it’s easier if I just do it myself.”

We’ve all been there, whether it’s something as simple as helping your child get dressed in the morning when they’re refusing to do it themselves or writing a new blog post for your website because the idea of handing the task to someone else is a little terrifying.

There are usually two main reasons people choose not to delegate:

“I can do it myself. I don’t need any help.” – Translation: “I don’t want anyone to think I can’t manage. I don’t want to feel like a failure.”

“I’d rather do it myself.” – Translation: “What if they get it wrong?”

Both are understandable mindsets, and trust me, as a business owner and especially as a Virtual Assistant who’s used to being delegated to, I still find it difficult to let go of certain tasks and responsibilities to someone else.

When you first start up a new business it can take some time before it starts to make any kind of significant profit so many people continue to work full-time and run their new business on the side, at the same time.
 
It makes sense because you need money coming in to pay the bills while you work on getting your company up and running; however it can take a lot of hard work and very long hours to work two jobs effectively.
 
If you are planning to run your business alongside a full-time employed position there are quite a number of elements to take into consideration, not the least of which is managing your own health and wellbeing at what will be a very busy and stressful time.
 
To give us some tips on how to balance both we asked the experts from Crunch.co.uk and they gave these useful tips. 

There’s nothing worse than dreading the journey to work because you know your marketing team isn’t quite as ‘on it’ as they used to be.
 
It’s a crushing feeling - particularly when you’re so invested in the business yourself.
 
What gives? Why do they appear to be so unproductive when they were once flying high and smashing every target?
 
Fear not, for there are some smart, tried-and-tested methods you can adopt to rejuvenate your flagging marketing team, and I’d like to share them with you today.

Did you know that an average of 2 missed calls can equate to 104 potential missed sales each year? If you’re a relatively new small business, then hitting the ground running and getting those clients reeled in is a huge priority. However, with new business comes an influx of telephone enquiries if you’ve nailed a good marketing strategy - and as great as this sounds, answering numerous calls can become very time-consuming.

It’s not just on the hour calls that eat up your working day, but maybe your job involves lots of travelling or the inability to answer the phone due to the nature of your business.

If hiring a receptionist just isn’t in your business budget, then a call answering service might just be what you need.

​A Business Continuity Plan (BCP) is usually very helpful for any business. This is mainly because every business faces emergencies or disasters that can hinder its continuation. If your business does not have a continuity plan you might be forced to close down in case of emergencies or disasters. This makes it paramount to know exactly why having a business continuity plan is crucial for your business.

​Big Data, in simple terms, is the practice of analysing extremely large sets of information in order to glean valuable insights into any number of vital business practices; from customer service to logistics and everything in-between. It’s proved to be an invaluable source of information for the world’s largest businesses and now influences key stakeholders decisions on a daily basis.
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Due to the complexity of the algorithms organisations need to create in order to determine trends and gain intuition, Big Data is often seen as the exclusive preserve of Blue Chips and multi-nationals. This is, considering the amount of time and money that companies need to invest in order to create said algorithms, an understandable position. That said, there are large organisations whose business models are reliant on allowing businesses of all shapes and sizes the opportunity to use their algorithms in order to achieve their goals. 

Who wants to wait days, or even weeks, for their online order to arrive? Or worse, who wants their order to arrive in poor condition? Certainly not your customers. Your business’ shipping strategy is crucial for both you and your customer, and working to improve it even more so. No matter how great their buying experience may have been, inadequate shipping resources creates an overall poor experience for your customer.

In this post, we’re detailing some of the best ways you can work towards streamlining your shipping strategy, all to ensure that your customers receive the very best experience when interacting with your business.

​This is a common trend among the more hands-on entrepreneurs, and while an active approach is something to be applauded, the need to delegate tasks, even important tasks, becomes more present.
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If this is not something you naturally do, don’t worry. Delegation is a skill that you can learn just like any other, and we encourage you to seek out those resources for the benefit of your business. Yet first, here are a few more reasons why we stress the importance of delegation: