For so many, the work life balance is a difficult one to sort out. As an entrepreneur the work days often seem to be getting longer, and it can be hard to leave work at the office. As the working world shifts, we’re seeing more and more entrepreneurs look to outsourcing as a way to delegate tasks and free up space in their own busy calendars.
The concept of outsourcing can be daunting at first, but the benefits usually far outweigh the challenges. This practice allows you to hire specialists outside of yourself, or your own team, to handle specific tasks. This can be anything from a single marketing campaign or content creation, to calendar management or an entire financial or payroll team. It also allows you to hire the best people to handle the tasks, whether they’re in your office, or across the ocean! At the end of the day, you can’t take on every task yourself, you want to focus on revenue-creating items, and getting your business to the top.
Cost Benefits
Outsourcing has incredible cost benefits that are highly attractive to entrepreneurs, especially ones that are just starting out. Working with freelancers for things such as content writing, accounting, and so many other departments, tends to cost less than hiring a full-time staff member or team. Outsourcing also eliminates onboarding costs like healthcare benefits, travel costs, and an annual salary.
By outsourcing simple or time-consuming tasks, you are also providing relief to your existing staff, and to yourself. This is a great step to avoiding employee burnout or turnover, and ensuring your full-time staff are focusing on their direct departments and important tasks, ultimately leading to a more successful team and business.
Business Development and Time Benefits
Business Development is clearly one of the most important aspects of being an entrepreneur, and outsourcing directly correlates to it. As an entrepreneur, your focus is usually on developing new clients, growing your business, and creating a successful concept. By utilizing outsourcing, you are ultimately eliminating mundane tasks from your own workload, giving yourself *breathing room to take care of the bigger picture items.
Taking back your time is extremely important, as your busy days never seem to end. Focusing on what you do best, and growing your business, is the key. Outsourcing tasks means one person is devoted to a specific task, allowing you to utilize your time to focus on what’s important. Instead of spending precious time trying to learn a new skill or meet a deadline, let a freelancer work within your timeline.
Specialization
No one person can take care of every aspect of a business seamlessly on their own. Thankfully, there are so many freelancers who specialize in specific areas. Looking for a graphic designer? No problem. In need of a financial advisor? Easy! Strategic outsourcing will give you the expert experience for any department you need. With outsourcing, you open up access to more specialised talents that fall outside of the scope of your own expertise.
With outsourcing, you’re not looking for an employee who has a long list of responsibilities or requirements, you’re only searching for someone who can achieve one task, but at a higher level of execution.
Even with all of these benefits, there are a few things you must remember when outsourcing parts of your business. It’s important to ensure that you have a clear line of communication to every outsourced employee, as they don’t know your company first-hand. It may be a good idea to have your full-time team members create an outline to be sent to the outsourced team, or have preliminary examples so they understand what it is you’re looking for. Keep a clear timeline for both your sake, and the outsourced teams sake. As so much is outsourced overseas, your business may be working with multiple different time zones.
Remember to stay focused on doing the things that only you and your team can do, and try to outsource the rest. This way, you have a greater chance of creating a successful business, while also not overexerting what already exists.
