Tag: Outsourcing

Two of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. When running a business of any kind, no one can possibly know everything, and no can has the time to do everything. This underscores the importance of outsourcing. The following contributed post is thus entitled, Things You Should Consider Outsourcing In Your Business.

* * *

Image Credit

When it comes to your business, if you’re like most business owners, outsourcing, although something you know is necessary, is often easier said than done. We business owners will make every excuse in the book, from not wanting to hand things off to someone who may do a bad job, to not being able to afford to hire someone when it comes to outsourcing, but the fact is, that in order to grow and scale your business, learning to let go and outsource the things that in your zone of genius are things that really need to be done.

The thing is about outsourcing is, that it will also free up your time to work on the things you’re good at and that make you money, but it will also help you make more money because even though you’ll be paying someone to do certain things, they’re going to be experts in these things so it will take them less time than it would take you, so you’ll be able to make money doing the things that are actually within your zone of expertise and genius.

If you know you have to outsource, but are struggling to decide which things you should start with, then in this post we’re going to share with you just what things you may want to consider outsourcing in your business.

Copywriting:

As much as business owners would like to believe that they’re great copywriters, it’s just not the case for most. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, because business owners aren’t supposed to be great at everything in their business. However, good copy is essential for your businesses marketing – especially if you want to stand out online, so this is definitely one of the things you should consider outsourcing. Whether it’s the website copy, or your newsletter, copywriters will know what to write to get you noticed as well as the best tools to use, such as plugins for tracking conversions, and newsletter templates from Postman, etc.

Graphic Design:

Like copywriting, graphic design is a certain skill that just not everyone has, but when done right it’s going to make a big difference in your business, so it’s also a good thing to outsource as soon you as you’re able to since it will be able to help make your business stand out by representing it in a good, positive way.

Admin:

Admin is not something that’s considered a money-making task in most businesses, yet it’s still a crucial part of the overall business to ensure it stays running as smoothly and efficiently as possible, so having good systems in place for your admin to keep things organized and running well is essential. Since this is likely not going to be your zone of genius or where your efforts are best spent, then outsourcing your admin tasks like replying to emails, setting up appointments and even creating filing systems and templates is definitely something that a good virtual assistant will be able to do for you and will complete in a fraction of the time that you’d be able to.

Two of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship, and a key piece of the latter is ‘Outsourcing’. No matter what type of business you’re trying to build, if your operations continue to grow, they will expand to the point where you can no longer do everything yourself. Outsourcing thus becomes key. The following contributed post is thus entitled, Why You Should Be Outsourcing Jobs In Your Small Business.

* * *

Small business owners can sometimes feel like they are wearing a lot of hats, and are doing the jobs of several people. While it may be just about manageable, to begin with, a point will arise where you just cannot do it all – not effectively, anyway – and then, it is time to look at giving some of the tasks so you can focus on building and growing your business.

Technology has made it an awful lot easier to outsource work. Instead of having to pay someone to travel into your place of work and be there physically to carry out the tasks, you can employ someone to do it from just about anywhere in the world. Even though you might have to lay out money to pay them, you’ll more than likely find that in the long term, it helps you to increase revenue and productivity.

Photo credit

Some roles and tasks that you may consider outsourcing include:

Marketing
Content creation
Search engine optimisation (SEO)
Web designers
Custom software development
Bookkeeping and accounts
Payroll
IT Support
Photography
Graphic Design
Social Media

It can be all too tempting to outsource all the work that you don’t want to do, and while this isn’t always a bad thing, it is important to remember that sometimes, there are some core jobs that you have to do to keep your business running efficiently. The idea of outsourcing is to get someone else doing the jobs that you either can’t do or the jobs that take you away from other vital roles within the business. These tasks come under two categories:

Highly skilled/specialised jobs: these are the ones that you just aren’t qualified or don’t know what to do. This could be dealing with legal and financial issues or technology-based ones.

Repetitive jobs: This may include inputting data, making phone calls and setting up meetings and appointments and paying invoices.

Quite often, the people who do these tasks work on a freelance/contractor basis, so wouldn’t need paying a fixed salary. This benefits you because you can pay them as and when you need them. However, it does also mean that there may be times when they are unavailable, and you will need to find someone else, who doesn’t necessarily know your business as well.

Finding the right contractor or freelancer can be difficult, to begin with. A good starting point is within your own network – ask fellow business owners if they can recommend anyone. You can also turn to online networking sites, such as Twitter or LinkedIn to ask for recommendations and screen any potential candidates. There are also websites such as People Per Hour and Upwork, which allow people to pitch for jobs and upload CVs and portfolios. You can also see if they have worked with other people through the platform and their rating.

When you outsource tasks, it gives you the chance to focus your time, attention and resources on what your company needs to grow and develop.