A marketing agency founder in Austin was billing $220 an hour for brand strategy. She was also the person who formatted every client report, chased every invoice, scheduled every meeting, and answered the support inbox between calls. In a single week, she logged 31 hours on work she could have paid someone $20 an hour to do. That's $620 in billable time burned on tasks a well-trained VA could have handled before lunch. This isn't a rare situation. According to a 2025 survey of 200 independent consultants and agency owners, the average founder spends 14.3 hours per week on tasks that could be delegated with a one-page SOP — tasks that require no strategic judgment, no client relationship depth, and no domain expertise. That's 35% of a standard work week spent below your pay grade. Understanding what tasks to delegate small business owners consistently avoid handing off isn't complicated — but most delegation advice stops at lists.…