Many company owners tend to dip their toes into every aspect of their businesses. Although this isn’t necessarily a bad thing; there is always that tendency of getting too busy doing everything and ending up doing nothing. Yes, it’s normal to check up on things once in awhile but hoarding all the work is another thing. Remember, the most important qualities of a successful business person include his ability to manage time, identify his responsibilities and effectively delegate tasks to his subordinates.

With the “hundreds” of tasks you juggle on a daily basis, how do you recognize which one’s are best to hand over to your assistant? Is it a matter of pinpointing? Definitely not. You can try categorizing them through a level of significance; from priority to the most unimportant. Start at the bottom and measure if the work is effective. As trust is built between you and your employee, proceed to the more significant duties.

Here are a few samples on what tasks to begin delegating:

• E-MAIL SUPPORT

Have your assistant go through, organize and reply to simple e-mails. He or she can even attend to all your appointments through the same channel. This will save you loads of time as you won’t have to check your account often, just ask your assistant to alert you on any communication that needs critical attention.

• SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGEMENT

Unless you consider yourself a social media junkie, you can certainly appoint the maintenance of several or all your social media accounts (Facebook, Twitter, Google +, LinkedIn etc). One tip though, it’s best to review all statuses a week before posting just to ensure the quality of each one.

• WRITING

If you run a blog then its best to simply list topics and then have your assistant write the articles. Just copy edit before posting. This way you can ensure that posts are updated as much as possible. Other written materials such as e-mails, opt in reports, newsletters or statuses can also be created by your VA’s.

• DATA ENTRY

Who enjoys copy pasting data from one sheet to another? I surely don’t, and I doubt you do too. Go ahead and have your VA run through files, segregate records and input figures.

• CUSTOMER SUPPORT

Running a business means dealing with several customer concerns including inquiries, sales and the trickiest, complaints. Better have an assistant handle it rather than doing all that by yourself and wasting valuable time arguing over the phone or replying to chat requests.

The list above does not encompass all the tasks a virtual assistant can perform, in fact professional virtual assistant service providers can even accommodate highly technical needs such as app development, programming, search engine optimization etc.

See? Sometimes a wise business owner knows when to ask for help and delegate. Now, you can get take that much needed vacation.