The 70% Rule: Why Perfectionism Is Your Biggest Bottleneck

You know you should delegate more. You know your time is worth more than $30 an hour.

But every time you hand something off, you end up redoing it. Or spending an hour explaining it. Or watching them struggle through something you could knock out in 10 minutes.

So you take it back. And you tell yourself, “It’s just faster if I do it myself.”

Except now you’re spending 15 hours a week on work someone else could handle. You’re turning down bigger opportunities because you’re buried in busywork. And your business is stuck at the same revenue ceiling because you are the ceiling.

You’re Not Protecting Quality, You’re Blocking Growth

Here’s the hard truth most founders don’t want to hear: perfectionism isn’t about standards. It’s about control.

You’ve convinced yourself that no one can do it as well as you. That clients expect your level of execution. That letting go of quality means letting down your business.

But what you’re actually doing is creating a business that can only grow as fast as you can work. And you’ve already maxed out your hours.

I see this all the time with founders I work with. They hire someone to take tasks off their plate, then micromanage every step. They rewrite emails. They redo designs. They “just tweak” the final deliverable before it goes to the client.

And they wonder why their team never gets better.

Here’s what’s really happening: you’re training your team to depend on you. You’re reinforcing the idea that their work isn’t good enough. And you’re spending more time managing than you would if you just let them run with it.

The cost isn’t just your time. It’s your growth.

The 70% Rule

The 70% Rule is simple: if someone on your team can do a task 70% as well as you, delegate it.

Not 90%. Not 80%. Seventy percent.

Because here’s the reality: most tasks in your business don’t need to be done at 100%. They need to be done consistently, on time, and without you.

Client onboarding? 70% is fine. Scheduling calls? 70% is fine. Drafting project updates? 70% is fine. Managing your CRM? 70% is fine.

The work still gets done. The client is still happy. The business still runs.

And you just freed up 10 hours a week to focus on the work that does need to be at 100%. The strategy. The relationships. The revenue-generating decisions only you can make.

What “Good Enough” Really Means

Let me be clear: I’m not telling you to accept sloppy work.

I’m telling you to stop holding onto tasks that don’t require your specific expertise just because you can do them slightly better.

There’s a difference between:

• Tasks where 70% creates real risk (client-facing deliverables, financial decisions, strategic direction)
• Tasks where 70% is completely fine (scheduling, admin, reporting, routine communication)

Most of what’s on your plate right now? It’s the second category.

And you’re treating it like the first.

Here’s a quick test: ask yourself, “If this task is done at 70% quality, what’s the actual consequence?”

If the answer is “The client won’t notice” or “It’ll take me 5 minutes to fix if needed,” that’s a 70% task. Delegate it.

If the answer is “We lose the client” or “It damages our reputation,” that’s a 100% task. Keep it, or invest heavily in training someone to your standard.

The problem is, most founders think everything is a 100% task. And that’s why they’re stuck.

How to Apply the 70% Rule

Step 1: List every task you’re currently doing yourself

Write it all down. The client emails. The invoicing. The scheduling. The follow-ups. The project updates. The admin work.

Don’t skip the “small stuff.” That’s usually where the biggest time drain is.

Step 2: Mark each task as 70% or 100%

Go through your list and ask: “Does this actually need to be at 100%, or am I just used to doing it myself?”

Be honest. Most of it is 70%.

Step 3: Delegate one 70% task this week

Pick the easiest one first. Something low-risk, high-frequency.

Hand it off to your team. Give them the context they need. Set a clear quality bar (not perfection, just “good enough”).

Then step back.

Step 4: Let them own it (even if it’s not perfect)

This is where most founders fail. They delegate, then swoop in to “fix” everything.

If the work is at 70% and that’s all it needs to be, leave it alone. Let your team learn. Let them build confidence. Let them get better over time.

You didn’t start at 100% either. You got there by doing the work, making mistakes, and improving. Your team needs the same space.

What This Looks Like in Practice

I worked with a founder who was personally drafting every client proposal. Each one took her 2-3 hours. She was convinced no one else could match her tone or structure.

We applied the 70% Rule.

She handed proposal drafting to her project manager. The first few weren’t perfect. They missed some of her nuance. But they were 70% there, and the clients said yes anyway.

Within a month, her PM was at 85%. Within three months, the proposals were indistinguishable from hers.

She got back 10 hours a week. She used that time to close two new high-ticket clients. Her revenue went up $40K that quarter.

And all she had to do was accept “good enough.”

This Is the Assign Phase

The 70% Rule is part of the Assign phase in the Operations Reset Framework.

Extract gets the system out of your head. Assign transfers ownership to your team (and lets them run with it at 70%). Scale builds the rhythm so the business keeps improving without you.

When all three phases work together, you get The Reset: a business that doesn’t need you to be perfect at everything.

But it starts with letting go of tasks that don’t need 100%. Because holding onto them isn’t protecting your business. It’s limiting it.

Stop Holding Your Business Hostage

If you’re still doing work someone else could handle at 70%, you’re not being a perfectionist. You’re being a bottleneck.

The 70% Rule is part of the Assign phase in the Operations Reset Framework. When you Extract the system from your head, Assign ownership to your team (and let them run with it at 70%), and Scale the rhythm, you get The Reset: a business that doesn’t need you to be perfect at everything.