Robyn Pearce: Do you need an assistant?

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Many small business owners feel overloaded with too much to do but when it's suggested that they would get value from employing a PA or admin assistant, the common response is 'I can't afford it.'

However, if you want to grow your business, hiring some help is the fastest way I know to leverage your time and increase your income.

Here's a simple exercise to help you decide whether or not it's time to get some assistance. It's an informal and very simple activity log.

Flip an A4 sheet of paper on its side and draw up 3 columns. The left-hand one takes up most of the page; the remaining 2 columns are each only about 3 cm in width.

Column 1: List the jobs you do in an average week. Also list the tasks you do less frequently.

Column 2: Roughly estimate the minutes or hours p.w. you spend on each task. If something is done less frequently, estimate how much time you'd spend per week if you were doing it weekly. For example, if you do a particular task once a month for an hour, record 15 minutes.

Column 3: Of the time you're currently spending, how much of it could be done by someone else at a lower pay rate than you want to be paid?

When I did this exercise many years ago I was shocked to find I was averaging 80 hours a week, about 40 of which could have been done by a relatively junior assistant. The problem was, I didn't have the money to hire anyone - I was so busy attending to the minutiae of my business that I had neither time nor head-space to seek more profitable work.

Have you noticed that the solution to a problem often comes once you focus on it? Within a week or two of this epiphany, a friend with another start-up business and the same problem of too much to do and not enough hours or money to hire, suggested that we job-share a subsidised assistant from the Government Job Search programme running at the time.

It was a perfect solution. By the time the 6 month subsidised programme was completed, my friend could afford to give full-time employment to our young worker and I was able to hire a really competent school mum for about 20 hours per week. Once I had headspace to be more strategic, not only did I lift my income but was also able to simplify some activities - an experienced part-timer was all I needed.

We always need the help before we can quite afford it - but if we don't invest in the help we'll never be able to afford it.

Robyn Pearce (known as the Time Queen) is the MD of GettingAGrip.com, an international time management and productivity training company based in New Zealand. Get your free report 'How To Master Time In Only 90 Seconds' and ongoing time tips at www.gettingagrip.com