Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Key Takeaways
- Entrepreneurs get stuck in the trap of needing more capacity to grow but needing more growth to justify hiring, which keeps them overwhelmed and doing far too much themselves.
- Most founders wait too long to delegate for this reason. They try to wait until cash flow aligns with all other factors.
- Founders should delegate just 5-10 hours of work per week to start. Begin with the areas that free the most mental load and unlock the most capacity.
- Don’t view delegation as something that happens only after significant growth. Growth comes from delegation, not before it.
Every entrepreneur hits the same frustrating loop at some point — you need more capacity to grow, but you need more growth to justify the cost of delegation. So, so many entrepreneurs stay stuck in the middle, definitely overwhelmed, and probably on the path to burnout. They keep telling themselves they’ll hire once things stabilize, but they rarely do.
Most founders wait too long to delegate for this reason — trying to wait until their cash flow aligns with all the other factors. In fact, 75% of entrepreneurs struggle with delegation, while those entrepreneurs who do delegate see 100+ percentage points more growth than those who don’t.
In this article, I’ll break down a simple, practical framework to help you figure out exactly when to hire, what to delegate first, and how strategic delegation can become a revenue accelerator when done right.
If you’re stuck in the capacity dilemma, this is for you.
Related: The Real Reason You Struggle With Delegation — and How to Finally Fix It
Why founders delay delegation
Entrepreneurs generally avoid delegation because the decision feels expensive, emotional and like a big time commitment. What these entrepreneurs aren’t considering is the real cost of not making the hire, which is the time you lose by doing everything yourself.
When you’re spending your days chasing down fires and context-switching, you’re basically just running in place, and sometimes, barely holding it together.
So the real question isn’t “can I afford to hire?” It’s “what is it costing me not to?”
What your non-delegation is costing you
One very simple, starting way to think about the cost of doing things yourself is putting a value on your own time.
If you are someone who bills their time to clients — for example, a lawyer, accountant, electrician or other service professional — you already know what your time costs. It’s simply your hourly rate.
If you are not someone who bills their time to clients — for example, a restaurant owner, CPG founder or CTO — you can assign yourself a theoretical hourly rate based on what you’d get paid to do a similar job. You can do a check on any job posting site to see what similar jobs would be paid.
Then, for any task, think about how much time it takes you to do that task. Let’s say your hourly rate is $100/hr, and something takes you one hour because you are distracted and pulled in several directions. But if you paid your admin $35/hr to do the same task and it takes them 30 minutes, the math clearly pays off.
The catch of this framework — you have to actually use the time you free up through delegation to be productive and generate value. This way, you are making use of the investment you’re making.
Related: 5 Delegation Strategies To Help You Flourish With Less Stress
What to delegate first (so you don’t overhire or mis-hire)
Most founders assume their first hire needs to be a unicorn who does everything. If I can share anything with you, it’s that you do not need a unicorn, and it will be extremely difficult to find one.
The most successful businesses delegate in phases, starting with the areas that free the most mental load and unlock the most capacity.
Here’s the delegation order I recommend for most small businesses:
-
Admin + inbox management: Email, scheduling, follow-ups, client reminders, weekly organization. This frees up hours instantly and reduces missed opportunities. Even an hour or two a day of inbox help can dramatically reduce overwhelm and improve decision-making speed.
-
Repetitive operational tasks and automation: Think about things like data entry, CRM updates and automations, collections and invoicing and any other repetitive tasks. These tasks don’t require your expertise; they drain your time, and oftentimes, they can be automated to save you even more time and money.
-
Delivery support: If you’re client-facing or product-delivery heavy, eventually you’ll delegate pieces of delivery. Trades businesses, for example, see huge benefits when they delegate quoting support, scheduling and follow-ups to a VA because it tightens response times and accelerates cash flow, so you can focus on the core delivery.
-
Marketing support: It’s tempting to delegate marketing first, but it really isn’t worth it if your core systems aren’t in place — you’ll just throw leads into a failing system. Once you’re ready, you can delegate marketing tasks, including content scheduling, posting, collecting testimonials, sending newsletters, managing social platforms and so much more.
Start small. Delegate, refine that process, then move on to the next.
How much to delegate (without blowing up your margins)
I recommend starting with delegating just 5-10 hours of work per week to start. This can take the edge off of the work that interrupts your ability to grow and plan, and delegating just a sliver of work unlocks disproportionate upside.
If cash flow feels tight, you follow the same logic we use when setting any type of budget — start lean, track ROI and iterate as you go.
Remember, the goal isn’t to reduce your workload to zero. The goal is to reclaim enough time and mental space to make better decisions and also to flex your delegation muscles.
The real truth: Growth comes from delegation, not before it
Instead of viewing delegation as something that happens only after significant growth, remember that growth doesn’t come because you don’t have the capacity to create it.
If you’re constantly operating at 100% capacity, there’s no room for strategic thinking, experimentation or higher-value opportunities, and iterative delegation is the way out of that.
The moment you offload even a fraction of your workload, your business gets breathing room, and from that space, growth becomes possible.
Key Takeaways
- Entrepreneurs get stuck in the trap of needing more capacity to grow but needing more growth to justify hiring, which keeps them overwhelmed and doing far too much themselves.
- Most founders wait too long to delegate for this reason. They try to wait until cash flow aligns with all other factors.
- Founders should delegate just 5-10 hours of work per week to start. Begin with the areas that free the most mental load and unlock the most capacity.
- Don’t view delegation as something that happens only after significant growth. Growth comes from delegation, not before it.
Every entrepreneur hits the same frustrating loop at some point — you need more capacity to grow, but you need more growth to justify the cost of delegation. So, so many entrepreneurs stay stuck in the middle, definitely overwhelmed, and probably on the path to burnout. They keep telling themselves they’ll hire once things stabilize, but they rarely do.
Most founders wait too long to delegate for this reason — trying to wait until their cash flow aligns with all the other factors. In fact, 75% of entrepreneurs struggle with delegation, while those entrepreneurs who do delegate see 100+ percentage points more growth than those who don’t.
