As an entrepreneur, you’re used to handling dozens of responsibilities, from generating leads to taking out the trash. But trying to cover all the bases yourself can be not only exhausting, but also potentially harmful to your business.

“Small-business owners who remain convinced they must do everything alone quickly burn out,” says Karen Southall Watts, an entrepreneurship and management consultant. Enlisting help is important, because it gives you the time and space to keep your operation running smoothly — and even grow the business.

Watts offers these tips for figuring out which tasks to delegate and how to do so effectively.

• Start with the sweet spot. Take a moment to write down the tasks that are a perfect match for your core skills, Watts suggests. Chances are this list will line up with your passion and interests (in other words, what made you start the business in the first place). Perhaps you’re great at closing sales, designing products, or marketing to new customers. These are jobs you want to keep doing yourself.
• Figure out what you can delegate “down.” Write down the tasks you do that don’t require a special skill set (or are so easy that you tend to do them on auto-pilot), such as filing papers, housekeeping, or sending mail and invoices. Consider hiring a secretary, virtual assistant, or other employee to take these over. Or, if you already have staff, consider who’s most appropriate to grab the baton.
• Figure out what you can delegate “up.” Watts recommends that you also identify the tasks you do that require special knowledge, skills, or a license. Rather than struggle to figure out complex issues alone, you may want to hire an accountant to do your bookkeeping or taxes, a lawyer for contracts and legal work, or a copywriter to take over marketing and publicity.
• Add to your current skill set. In some cases, it may be better to pay someone to handle short-term tasks which you can take over, at least in part, later on. For instance, if you’re not tech savvy, you might hire a designer to build a professional website for your business. Then, rather than relying on the designer every time you want to make small changes, learn a few basic skills. This is a case where over-delegation may actually be too costly: Perhaps you can take over updating content and maintaining a blog to keep the site fresh. In other words, delegate the heavy lifting, but keep the easy part for yourself.
• Tell yourself to let go. Perfectionists have a hard time letting go of tasks because they feel no one can do them as well, Watts notes. If you fall into the “if you want something done right, do it yourself” category, focus on the free time you’ll gain by delegating. Provide clear, written instructions to your new helper(s). After a few weeks or months, assess their work. Provide feedback and listen to any input your contractor(s) or employee(s) may have. Chances are, the jobs will get done well without you. Best of all, you’ll be able to concentrate on the tasks you enjoy the most.

Time management is critical to small-business success: When you have fewer people to get things done, efficiency is key. Yet we all find ways to while away work time with activities other than actual work, such as using social media.

But Twitter, Facebook, and other sites offer plenty legitimate business uses, too. As the line between business and personal becomes increasingly blurred, how do you make sure your employees aren’t goofing off without micro-managing or destroying morale?

The Intuit Small Business Blog recently checked in with Suzanne Lucas (pictured) — also known as the Evil HR Lady — to get her take on the topic.

ISBB: What’s the current wisdom on managing how my employees spend their time? How much is too much when it comes to non-work-related internet use, phone calls, errands, side projects, and so on?

Lucas: In the old days, you could tell instantly if an employee was goofing off, because the difference between work and not work was obvious. In today’s wired world, unless you are actually looking over their shoulders, it’s impossible to tell if that tapping on a BlackBerry is a work email or a Facebook status update.

My suggestion is to look at overall results, and don’t worry about what your employee is doing right now. Some people’s brains work better with a bunch of little breaks; some people’s don’t. If someone isn’t performing at the proper level, speak to that person about performance. If they are spending too much time on the internet, address that as a performance issue.

It’s possible that you can have two employees who spend identical amounts of time goofing off, but one is a high performer and the other is a low performer. The latter needs to spend less time on the phone, internet, or whatever, and the former should be rewarded for good work. It’s not about butt-in-seat time anymore. It’s about performance.

I’m OK with non-work-related conversations and having some fun in the office. But what do I do about political, religious, or other hot-button topics at the water cooler?

You can’t avoid all of those things, nor do you really want to. The only restriction I would place on it is to keep everything legal — nothing that can be construed as sexual harassment, racial discrimination, etc.

Most of my employees manage their time just fine, so I take a hands-off approach. But one employee takes advantage of that. What’s the best way to deal with her without disrupting everyone else?

Handle that employee. You don’t have to treat everyone the same, you just have to treat everyone fairly. If she’s taking advantage of it, you need to correct it. You may need to be extremely clear, as some people just do not get it.

What non-work activities should be strictly prohibited?

Porn is obvious. Gambling. Drinking. Drugs. Otherwise, it’s totally dependent on the environment and needs. I was going to say online gaming, but then I realized I have two friends who are World of Warcraft addicts. [They’re] also Ivy League master’s degree holders, genius programmers, and have a tremendous workload which they successfully accomplish. So, you may run into Eric’s cube and see him playing WoW and declare that he is wasting time and should be fired — except that he’s already out-produced everyone else in the office. Again, it’s all about performance.

by Kevin Casey