The 80% Rule: Why Letting Go Is the Key to Growth for Small Business Owners
One of the most pivotal—and terrifying—moments in a small business owner’s journey is hiring their first team member. Whether it’s a full-time employee, a contractor, or a virtual assistant, that first step into delegation feels like walking a tightrope. After all, up until now, you have done everything. You have controlled every detail. Bringing someone else into the fold means trusting them with your standards, your clients, and your reputation.
And that trust can be hard to come by.
The Perfection Trap
The mistake many business owners make is assuming the person they hire will do the work exactly the way they would do it. It’s easy to believe that, just because you’ve written out a process or explained your expectations, your new hire will deliver results at the same 100% standard you’ve held yourself to.
But here’s the truth: no one will ever do the job exactly like you. People have different experiences, perspectives, work styles, and even motivations. Expecting a clone of yourself is setting up everyone—including you—for frustration.
And yet, that’s okay.
Measuring “Good Enough” in the Real World
Let’s say you’re a chef opening your own restaurant. You’re not just cooking—you’re designing the menu, marketing the business, hiring staff, and managing costs. You’re stretched thin. But because your food is exceptional—twice as good as what someone might get at home or from a chain restaurant—your standard is way above what the average diner expects.
Now, imagine you hire a cook who performs at 80% of your standard. Even at 80%, they’re still delivering a better experience than most people expect. That’s the math of delegation: if your 100% is world-class, then 80% of you is still more than good enough.
This idea doesn’t just apply to kitchens. The same principle holds whether it’s sales, design, customer service, estimating, or admin work: if the person you bring in can perform at 70–80% of your standard, and that standard is still higher than the market baseline, you’re delivering a win.
What About the Other 20%?
If you’re worried about losing that final polish, there are smart ways to handle it. Build in a feedback or quality assurance loop. Your new team member completes 80% of the work, and you step in to offer the final 20%—course correcting, refining, and approving. This ensures quality without doing all the work yourself.
More importantly, that saved time becomes an investment. You can use it to focus on what truly matters: the things only you can do. Sales. Vision. Strategy. Culture. Growth.
Play to Your Strengths, Delegate the Rest
Not every task is worth your time—especially the ones you’re just “okay” at. Maybe you’re a top-tier developer but a mediocre designer. Hire a designer. Maybe you’re great at closing deals, but are overwhelmed managing your inbox. Get a virtual assistant. Maybe you’re a fantastic estimator but struggle to follow up on unpaid invoices. Bring in billing support.
Hiring doesn’t just offload tasks—it shifts your energy toward areas where you deliver the most value.
Letting Go Isn’t Failing—It’s Scaling
Every great company is built on layers of trust. At some point, every founder handed a task off to someone else. Sometimes, that person did it better. Sometimes, they just did it well enough—and that was more than sufficient. Either way, that handoff freed up time for the next critical move.
So, stop chasing 100% replication. Accept 80% excellence. Use your time wisely and where it matters most. Because your business isn’t going to grow by doing everything yourself. It’s going to grow when you empower others to do great work—and you step fully into the role only you can play.
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With a background in music and an MBA in Entrepreneurship, Zack brings both creative and systems-minded approaches to leadership. He’s passionate about helping other founders and executives delegate effectively, reclaim their time, and focus on what only they can do—whether that’s vision, culture, or growth.
Zack lives in Austin, Texas, where he blends his love for business, music, comedy, happy hour, and community-building.