#166 | What's the Cost of Not Delegating? With Carmen Williams

What if the biggest thing holding your business back isn’t lack of time—but your reluctance to let go? In this empowering new episode, Fatimah is joined by Carmen Williams, Director of Global Teams, who shares how delegation became the most transformational move in her business journey. From her early days as a scientist to running a thriving remote team of over 100 virtual assistants across South Africa and the Philippines, Carmen’s story is a powerful reminder that scalable success starts with trust. Carmen opens up about hiring her first VA while her business was still pre-revenue—a leap of faith as a single mother with two children and a mortgage. That decision forced her to rethink everything she knew about control, clarity, and capacity. Along the way, she learned that effective delegation isn’t about dumping tasks—it’s about building relationships, empowering others, and letting go of perfectionism. Together they explore common outsourcing mistakes, how to choose the right first hire, and why your systems don’t need to be perfect before you start. Carmen also shares practical frameworks, like her “two-message rule,” and why opportunity cost is the real risk of doing everything yourself. If you’ve ever felt stuck in the weeds of your own business—or unsure how to grow without burning out—this episode is packed with clarity, courage, and the mindset shifts needed to finally delegate with confidence. In this episode, I cover:  14:15 Offshoring vs Outsourcing Explained 18:20 Where to Start with Virtual Assistants 24:30 Managing Remote Teams Effectively 31:10 Delegating Better for Business Growth 35:00 Scaling Your Business with VAs 43:19 Personal Experiences and Lessons Learned And more… Leading a PMO through complexity, culture, and change? Tune in to explore how human-centered strategy and systems thinking can elevate your impact. Then, share how you"re bridging the gap between strategy and execution—I’d love to hear your Agile Ideas.  Support the show Thank you for listening to Agile Ideas! If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with someone who might benefit from our discussions. Remember to rate us on your preferred podcast platform and follow us on social media for updates and more insightful content. Thank you for listening. If you enjoyed this episode, I"d really appreciate it if you could share it with your friends and rate us. Let"s spread the #AgileIdeas together! We"d like to hear any feedback. www.agilemanagementoffice.com/contact Don"t miss out on exclusive access to special events, checklists, and blogs that are not available everywhere. Subscribe to our newsletter now at www.agilemanagementoffice.com/subscribe. You can also find us on most social media channels by searching "Agile Ideas". Follow me, your host, on LinkedIn - go to Fatimah Abbouchi - www.linkedin.com/in/fatimahabbouchi/ For all things Agile Ideas and to stay connected, visit our website below. It"s your one-stop destination for all our episodes, blogs, and more. We hope you found today"s episode enlightening. Until next time, keep innovating and exploring new Agile Ideas! Learn more about podcast host Fatimah Abbouchi ...