What tasks you could delegate?

The answer is quite simple "All of them" unless you want to do it yourself. Here is a list of tasks that could be delegated. Brain storm and find what you would add to the list.

1. Communication (dealing with mail, phone and emails).
2. Document formating (desktop publishing, web site, presentations (power point)
3. Data processing
4. Fact finding
5. Bookkeeping
6. Writing
7. Marketing
8. Product selling
9. Product delivery
10. Photocopying, printing, collating
11. Packing
12. Finding prospects
13. Cold calling
14. Answering usual questions
15. Market analysis
16. Product manufacturing
17. Product development
18. Searching for credit
19. Gardening
20. Housekeeping
21. Mowing lawns
22. Dealing with laundry
23. Buying groceries
24. Cooking
25. Cleaning
26. Car washing
27. Car maintenance
28. Baby sitting
29. Personal tutoring
30. Personal coaching
...

Why to delegate tasks?

There are several possible reasons for delegation of tasks:

1. You don't know how to complete the task,
2. You know how to complete the task, but someone could finish it sooner and better,
3. You don't like working on that task,
4. You don't have the time for that task,
5. It is cheaper if someone else do it,

Some of this reasons we are aware of and we delegate tasks without thinking. For example when we are in legal trouble, we don't hesitate to ask or hire a lawyer. Lawyer know how to complete the task, and it is probably cheaper to hire a lawyer than to pay $100k penalty or even to go to prison.

On the other hand, usually we don't delegate regularly. We usually delegate in the case of emergency. I believe that we could delegate far more than we do. Decision process of whether you should delegate or not could look like this.

• Calculate the price of task if you have to do it.
  For example, you have a lawn that should be mowed. You have a low cost lawn mower and using it you could mow your lawn for 2 hours. Your pay per hour is 15$. Than the cost of you doing it is 30$+amortization of your lawn mower.
• Calculate the price of task if someone else is going to do it
  For example, The Lawn Mower corp. could mow your lawn for one hour, charging you 25$ per hour.
• Find out what is cheaper!
  In this example it is cheaper to hire The Lawn Mower corp. 25$ vs. 30$+amortization of your lawn mower. In that case you don't even need to have a lawn mower, and you can do something more purposefully with that money.

Of course, another part of the equation would be the pleasure for mowing your lawn. Don't delegate a tasks that you enjoy doing just for couple of dollars.