MANAGEMENT • 4 MIN READ

The 2X Delegation Rule

Are You Stuck Working “IN” Your Business?

Not enough time to get everything done in a day?

You’re working 50, 60, maybe even 80-hour workweeks, handling so many things yourself…

Putting out the fires…
Leading the team meetings…
Closing all the important deals…
Fulfilling the day-to-day work for your top clients…

And the list goes on.

Sound familiar?

Trust me, I’ve been there. And I’ll be the first to say that it was a dumb thing to do.

Taking on every role in your business will only lead to burnout (been there, done that — so bad that I had anxiety attacks and had to call 911)…

And it’s the main reason why most small business owners stay stuck on the hamster-wheel.

Well, good news for you: it doesn’t have to be that way…

Learning To Delegate

If you’re ready to create a business that works for you (and not the other way around), then you need to learn how to delegate effectively.

Problem is, most business owners are absolutely horrible at this. (again, been there right with you!)

Start moving away from doing so much yourself, and get as much of the working “in” your business type tasks off of your plate…

So you can focus on what a true CEO should be focused on: the vision, strategy, and growth initiatives to drive your company forward.

How To Know Exactly WHAT To Delegate

In order to get there, there’s one important question you need to ask yourself:

What Is The Value Of Your Time?

It’s easy to think in these terms of cost for an employee based on their salary or wage, but as a business owner, it’s probably not something you know off the top of your head.

What is your dollar per hour that your time is worth?

In starting to delegate, you have to convince your mind the importance of this. So one simple thing to do is to identify your $ per hour rate… and from there you can much more quickly see which low-end tasks you should offload.

(What you’ll find is it’s most of them!)

The Value Of Your Time Calculation

So here’s the simple way to quantify this:

Step 1 – Your Earnings

Realistically, what are your target personal projected earnings in the next 12 months?

Note: this isn’t your business revenue, this is your personal total “take-home” pay (your salary, profits, and distributions).

Write that 12 month total down.

Step 2 – Your Hours

Next, note down how many weeks you work in a year. Let’s say you work ~50 weeks (out of 52 weeks/year), so use that number if you don’t have a set # of weeks worked/year.

Then add up how many hours per week you work, and multiply that number by 50.

So for example, 50 weeks per year multiplied by 40 hours per week is 2,000 hours per year.

Step 3 – Your $ Per Hour

Then, to get your $/hour, what you want to do is divide your projected earnings by the total annual hours.

So if you want to take home $200,000 in personal earnings in the next year, dividing that by 2,000 hours (which we got from 50 x 40) gives you $100 per hour.

So do the calculation and circle that number; that is where your average $ per hour needs to be. Keep that in mind…

Because now it’s time to start delegating!

Step 4 – Delegate

Now you’re ready to implement what we call the 2X Delegation Rule.

This is looking at the $/hour value of your current tasks, comparing it to your target $/hour (calculated in step 3), and delegating any tasks that are 25% or less of that value.

So in the example above, the value of your time is $100 per hour. That means you delegate anything and everything that can be done by someone else for $25/hour or less.

And do you know how many tasks can be done by someone for $25/hour or less?

Answer: The vast majority of things in your business!

To implement this, review an entire workday and write down EVERY task that you did.

At the end of the day, review and highlight on that list that can be offloaded for 25% or less of your $/hour value. Odds are it’ll be more than half of your total work time!

So, to recap:

Get the $/hour value of your time.
Identify anything you’re spending time on that can be done by someone else for 25% or less of that value.
Delegate all of those items ASAP.
Replace that time with higher-value activities to grow your business.
Rinse and repeat.

Do this and you’ll very soon set records on your freedom… your growth… and your bottom line!

Your time is valuable.

Treat it that way and start mastering delegation.