I put off writing about delegation because it’s a topic that directly touches my own interests as an independent professional. I also don’t want to add needless noise to a conversation that already feels thoroughly covered. But a little while ago, I was particularly annoyed by the discourse around delegating certain tasks. A freelancer asked for opinions about delegation on Threads, and almost all the replies were copy-paste takes that make my skin crawl. I’ll sum up the gist of them, then explain why I ground my teeth.

• You should delegate without planning for cash flow, because the freed-up time will let you generate more revenue.
• You have to invest money to grow your business; otherwise, it’s impossible to scale.
• The earlier you delegate, the more likely you are to succeed (with zero clarification of what “success” even means, obviously).
• No need to delegate — there’s artificial intelligence (AI).

The common point in all these answers: at NO point do they consider the freelancer you’re delegating to. We’ll come back to this in detail, but isn’t it basic to establish a relationship of trust with your providers? Starting with paying them on time and respecting the frame you set together. If you delegate without planning — so, without the cash and resources to do it — how exactly are you ensuring a calm, respectful collaboration for your providers?

I’m exasperated by the narratives that treat essential strategic decisions of a business like topics that don’t deserve more thought than that. My three-year-old nephew puts more care into choosing his duck-fishing prize than these pseudo-professionals do into their “strategic” decisions before spreading their opinions all over social media…

I’m not going to rehash the point that increasing revenue is not the only way to grow a business; I recommend this article and this book if you want to dig deeper into growth. As for AI, I think it’s high time we approached the subject with more sense than just shouting from the rooftops that it can create all our content for us. Used well, AI is an asset for certain domains and tasks — but for the love of all that’s holy, let’s stop pretending it can fully replace our expertise. I’m not an expert on this topic, so I’ll save a strongly worded opinion for later.

I want to stress that delegating as a manager within a team is different from choosing to hire someone for a one-off or ongoing mission when you’re running your own company. The motivations aren’t the same — and neither are the stakes.

That said, if you’re a solopreneur or head of a very small/small business (TPE/PME), outsourcing certain tasks raises fairly similar issues. That’s the situation I’ll be talking about from here on out.

Stringing Beads

I wanted to start with the example of a jewelry maker. I’m deliberately choosing someone who creates physical products rather than a service provider. I think it will make my point easier to grasp.

Our maker starts out alone creating her pieces. She designs her collections, takes her own photos, develops her editorial line, creates content to promote her products on social media — she even builds her online store herself. A few months later, sales pick up nicely and she’s getting more and more orders. She doesn’t particularly enjoy spending time on social media, feels her website isn’t quite up to what she wants, and needs much higher-quality product photography.

Reading that, you’re probably thinking our maker needs a photographer, a community manager, and a web designer.

So is it time for her to delegate?

I’ll give you what my grandfather would call a classic “it depends.”

It all depends on:

• her revenue,
• her fixed costs,
• her product cost structure,
• her company’s profitability,
• her compensation — current and desired,
• her strategic priorities: acquiring new clients, creating new collections, selling only online or developing the retail channel, etc.

Yes, that’s a lot of variables to consider.

And when you’re wondering whether it’s time for you to outsource a service — whether one-off or recurring — spoiler alert: you’re going to have to put some real brainpower into it.

So here’s a review of the different steps to outsource in a strategic and profitable way. Profitability is one of the goals of a company — among other things, of course — but you didn’t launch a business to not make money. Otherwise, there’s a dedicated structure in France: non-profit associations (like it says on the label).

The Right Moment

I tried to create a matrix to determine whether it’s time for you to delegate. The idea is to go around the constraints and opportunities that your outsourcing project presents.

Overview

Let’s start at the beginning: how are things for you right now?

It seems essential to me, before delegating, to be very clear about your current situation. Here are a few avenues:

• Assess your workload honestly:
• projects in progress and their timelines,
• recurring tasks that keep your company functioning: admin, but also client/order/sales management, communication, logistics — everything that’s an irreducible part of your daily life.
• time needed for your private life: hobbies, kids, friends, partner, family, self-care.

When you do this exercise, be honest and don’t beat yourself up. The only way to solve a problem is to face it with as much sincerity as possible. For each task, assess time spent executing it, task difficulty, and its strategic importance on a scale from 1 to 10 (10 being the vital tasks for your company where you’re responsible for the majority of the value creation — in short, without you, getting the same result is very difficult).

• Assess your resources honestly:
• what’s the current state of your cash?
• what does your forecast say for the months ahead?

This point is very important. Keeping your financial tracking up to date will let you determine the budget you can allocate to your projects — including a potential outsourced mission. If you don’t keep your financial tracking up to date, it’s time to start. Track your income, expenses, fixed costs, and invoicing. You’ll be able to assess how to pay yourself and invest in your business without flying blind.

Scope

Once you’ve taken a clear look at your situation, you can determine two key things:

• the strategic areas where you need to invest,
• the budget you have available.

As for where to invest, there are different scenarios:

• recurring, fairly time-consuming tasks with low strategic value,
• recurring tasks with high strategic value,
• one-off events with low strategic value,
• one-off events with high strategic value.

All of this then divides across your skill spectrum — the tasks where you bring the most value because you’re the expert, and those where you’re out of your depth (and therefore lose time for a mediocre result).

Once you’ve identified the task(s) that require outside help, you’ll need to:

• define the scope of the mission,
• find a trusted provider,
• budget the mission — and save up beforehand if necessary.

Contract

Once you’ve found the rare gem to help you, you’ll need to set the contract terms together. Your provider will outline their conditions, including timelines, pricing, and details of how they work. Having a contract will protect both you and them in case of problems or unforeseen events.

You’re not legally required to sign a contract, but I strongly recommend it. It makes things far easier in the event of a disagreement, non-payment, or other issues that, unfortunately, can happen.

Don’t Rush

I believe only you can decide if it’s time to delegate certain missions.

My job is to be one of the people to whom important strategic and operational tasks are delegated. I will never push a client — or a potential client — to work with me if there’s a risk it will harm the financial health of their project or upend the balance of their organization.

It’s essential to plan outsourcing for the safety of your business — and out of respect for the providers you approach.

Don’t get swept up in euphoria and the trend of “hiring a VA” because you’ll supposedly be able to “focus on growing your revenue.” Hire someone when you truly need it and have the means. Be strategic and disciplined in these choices — they can hurt you if you make them lightly.