Stop Doing It All: How Delegating Can Expand Your Capacity and Your Business

Let’s be real —how much of what we do every day actually needs to be done by us?

Grocery shopping. Cleaning the house. Planning the family vacation. Shuttling kids to and from school. Running the carpool line. Coaching the team. Managing the never-ending logistics of life. The list is long—and familiar.

We’re used to handling it all. Often because we can. But just because you can doesn’t mean you should.

The Lesson I Learned the Hard Way

Back when I was climbing the ladder in Corporate America, I had a boss named Kathleen who changed the way I thought about work—and myself.

She constantly encouraged me to use our assistant, Anna, but I resisted. It felt strange asking for help with things I knew I could do myself. So I didn’t.

Until the day she caught me in the copy room, assembling my own presentation books. I’ll never forget the look on her face.

Later that day, she sat me down and said something I’ve carried with me ever since:

“If you want to grow in your career, you have to elevate how you perceive your time. You need to focus on the work only you can do.”

That moment shifted everything.

Fast Forward to Entrepreneurship

When I launched my own real estate business, I didn’t have the luxury of an assistant. But I remembered Kathleen’s advice. So I started small—by outsourcing things at home.

I hired someone to clean my tiny one-bedroom apartment. I felt guilty at first—after all, I could do it myself. But I asked myself: Is this really the best use of my time?

That one decision gave me back mental energy. More space to think. More clarity to create. And it helped me show up in my business with far more intention.

What Real Estate Women Can Learn from This

If you’re building a business in real estate—or coaching, leading, or growing inside one—your time and energy are everything. You can’t afford to waste them on tasks that don’t move the needle.

Here are a few ways to apply this lesson in your real estate life:

1. Start with a time audit

Track where your time goes for one week. Be honest. Highlight what only you can do—like showing up to client meetings, negotiating deals, or creating content that reflects your unique voice. Warning: if you’re at all like me, you will hate this tedious task.  But, I promise, you will be amazed by the clarity you gain.

2. Outsource one thing at home

Hire a house cleaner. Use grocery delivery. Get help with laundry or errands. Even delegating one task can free up hours of brain space each week. Eliminate the guilt around this.  You are saving your energy for the things that truly matter to you, plus you’re helping to grow someone else’s business!

3. Build a support squad in your business

The leaders who thrive the most have a deep bench of partners to help.   If you’re an agent, consider hiring a transaction coordinator. Employ a virtual assistant to help with scheduling or client follow-ups. Engage a social media manager to keep your brand consistent. You don’t have to do it all and my experience has been that these professionals can do the job better than I can because it’s their specialty!

4. Reframe delegation as a leadership move

Delegating isn’t about giving up control. It’s about choosing what matters most. When you elevate how you perceive your time, you show others—and yourself—that your leadership is worth protecting

Remember This

Delegating won’t feel natural at first. You might feel guilty or awkward or even a little indulgent. That’s normal. But just like Kathleen taught me, this isn’t about capability—it’s about capacity.

The more space you create, the more energy you’ll have to build the business and life you actually want.

What work can only you do —and what can you let go of?

Start there. Baby steps are enough.

— Elizabeth Convery is a founding coach of The Helm, the owner of Very Real Estate in Philadelphia, and the creator and coach of The Confident Agent.  You can learn more about her here.