Howdy! In today’s blog, I want to talk about a mistake that nearly every founder has made at some point — delegating far too soon without having any idea of what they’re handing off.

I’m a big believer in building strong teams because you can’t (and shouldn’t) do everything on your own forever. However, there is a huge difference between scaling sdmart and tapping out far too early when something begins to feel uncomfortable or unfamiliar.

The hard truth is that if you don’t understand what you’re delegating, you’re only setting yourself up for long-term confusion, a waste of your hard-earned money, and potentially a mountain of serious mistakes.

The #1 Mistake I’ve Seen Far Too Many Founders Make

Time and time again, I’ve seen founders outsourcing marketing, development, or finance to agencies or contractors before having any idea what they actually need. With no idea of what good results look like, founders end up over-spending for very little return.

If you hand these jobs off without understanding how to measure their success, you’ll not only struggle to lead the work, but you’ll also risk wasting your time and money.

It’s impossible for you to be an expert in everything, but understanding the essentials is vitally important. You need to be able to ask the right questions, help guide strategy and ensure the rest of your team is aligned with your goals.

The Key Takeaways

You don’t need to be an expert in everything, but you should know enough to:

– Set the direction

– Spot when something isn’t quite right

– Understand whether you’re getting fair value

An important part of being a founder is rolling up your sleeves and doing the work—not forever, but long enough to know what’s important. This is vital to helping you learn how to delegate and scale without losing control of what you’ve already built.

Important Question to Ask Yourself this Week:

Are there any areas of your business that you’ve delegated without fully understanding the basics of what success looks like? How can you spend time this week to get up to speed?