Feeling Stretched Thin? Here’s How to Decide What to Automate or Outsource
As a creative small business owner, you’ve likely been told to “work on your business, not just in it.” But what does that actually look like day-to-day—especially when you’re juggling onboarding, emails, contracts, and trying to squeeze in client work between it all?
That’s exactly what we tackled in our latest Dubsado webinar: Delegate or Automate: Handoffs That Help You Scale. We were joined by Dubsado Certified Specialist and systems strategist Alina Scarcella, who has spent the last decade helping creative entrepreneurs scale without losing their sanity (or their Saturdays).
Here’s a detailed recap of the value-packed session, including actionable tips you can implement right away—plus a link to the full replay if you want to dive deeper.
Why you’re the bottleneck (and that’s okay—for now)
Alina opened with an honest reality: many entrepreneurs become the bottleneck in their business. It’s not because they’re lazy—it’s because they’re wearing too many hats.
From her experience behind the scenes of countless creative businesses, she identified three core building blocks for sustainable growth:
You – the visionary and decision-maker
Systems – the automated processes that do the heavy lifting
Support – the human help to get things off your plate
Staying in your zone of genius means getting crystal clear on what only you can do—and what someone (or something) else could take over.
Audit your time: Where is it really going?
One of the most powerful exercises Alina recommends is doing a task audit. Whether you use a tool like Toggl or Dubsado’s time tracker, track every single thing you do in a day—from client work to email checking.
Most business owners are shocked to see how much time is lost to admin tasks that could be templatized, automated, outsourced, or eliminated altogether.
Try this:
Choose a typical workday and log your tasks in real-time.
Tally how many times you check your inbox or DMs.
Assign a hypothetical hourly rate to each task. Are you overpaying yourself for repetitive admin work?
Once you see your day on paper, the ROI of automating or delegating becomes crystal clear.
Automate or delegate? How to decide.
You’ve done the audit—now what?
Alina walked us through how to determine whether a task should be automated or delegated. Here’s her simplified matrix across common tasks:
Onboarding
✅ Automate if: The steps are repeatable and standardized
🤝 Delegate if: Each client or project is custom and needs a human touch
Client Communication
✅ Automate if: You send the same messages regularly
🤝 Delegate if: It’s nuanced or requires empathy-based judgment
Content Creation
✅ Automate if: It follows a repeatable structure (like blog formatting or social scheduling)
🤝 Delegate if: It’s strategic or requires a distinct brand voice
Admin & Paperwork
✅ Automate if: You can use smart fields and templates in Dubsado
🤝 Delegate if: You need help reconciling payments, following up, or managing exceptions
The big takeaway: Just because you’ve always done something manually doesn’t mean it has to stay that way.
Tools to get you started (without the overwhelm)
Alina shared several of her favorite systems and tools to streamline and systematize your day:
Dubsado: for lead capture, proposals, contracts, payments, and workflows
Loom / Scribe / Tango: for documenting SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures)
Toggle: for time tracking and task audits
Google Docs / Notion: for building out repeatable processes and templates
She even suggested creating a project in Dubsado for yourself so you can track how much time you’re spending on internal admin—and get a realistic view of your “internal hourly rate.”
When you’re ready to hire (and when you’re not)
If you’ve maxed out what systems can do—or need a human with specialized skills—it might be time to delegate to a contractor or employee.
Alina’s advice:
Be specific about what you want help with
Don’t wait until you’re in panic mode to hire
Document your processes first (so you’re not micromanaging later)
Whether it’s hiring a VA for 5 hours/month or a strategist for a 1-time setup, there’s always a way to get support—at any budget.
This post just scratches the surface. In the full webinar, Alina walks through:
Common pitfalls of both hiring and automating
How to shift from “reactive mode” to proactive leadership
How to build workflows that reflect your brand and save time
Watch the full replay below.
If your calendar is packed, your systems are duct-taped together, and you’re wondering how to scale without losing what makes your business yours—this conversation is a must-watch.
You don’t have to do it all. And you don’t have to do it alone.
About Alina
Alina Scarcella is a Dubsado Certified Specialist and an online business strategist with a knack for making things run smoother, faster, and with way less stress. She’s spent years behind the scenes of dozens businesses across different industries, untangling messy systems, automating the tedious stuff, and helping entrepreneurs turn big ideas into reality. Want to learn more? Checkout Alina’s curated resources to help you thrive here.
