Creating SOP’s so you can Delegate to Make Time for Self-Storage!

Now that you know where you are spending most of your time, you can make some changes. Anything that you do repeatedly is something that you should consider making a standard operating procedure for and then determining if it is something that you have to do or if it is something that someone else can do. There are always going to be things that you can’t delegate, but there are always going to be things that you can.

If you already have self-storage, what do you do over and over again that you need to make a standard operating procedure for? You are going to grow, and you are going to expand, you need to decide how you want the next person to do the job that you are doing. Make the manual as you do the job. It will slow you down one day and then free you up to train someone else to do the job for you.

An easy way to make the manual is to screenshot what you are doing as you do it and then go back and explain what each screen shot is. While it will take you a few minutes longer to do the screenshots and cut and paste them into a document, it shouldn’t delay you much. Then you can take the 5 to 10 minutes at the end to explain. Once you have done it you have done it. Think of it this way. Could someone walk in and pick up your manual off the shelf and do your job if you weren’t there? That is the type of manual you want to make.

Now that you have made your manual that includes everything that you are doing and how to do it, what can you delegate. If there is something repetitive enough that you can create a standard operating procedure for it, then you can probably delegate that to someone else. E-mail is a good place to start, especially if you are working with a virtual assistant to begin with.

If you are spending more than 45 minutes trying to go through your email and deal with all of the various items, that is something that would be good to outsource. Delegating email is a hard one, but it frees up a lot of time. Of course, there are e-mails that you have to take care of. However, if you can train someone how to deal with the monotonous e-mails that require a similar answer, how much time would that save you?

When you are in a position of growth, sometimes it is hard to justify how you can afford to pay someone to do your job. The real question is how can you not afford to. Your time is better spent growing your business and finding new properties than spent trapped behind a desk taking rental applications. You need to know how to take rental applications so that you can create a standard operating procedure but beyond that, hire someone else and free up your time. Take the time to make good manuals. Your people are only as good as their training. As always, happy investing.