There probably isn’t a single business that wouldn’t benefit from outsourcing once in a while. From single people enterprises to multi billion-grossing companies, outsourcing is a great idea. It can be coined as a strategy to get work completed outside of what might typically be the work of a staff member. It simply means that someone else is doing the job.
In most cases, something that will be outsourced will be, because it is more cost-effective or there isn’t the available skillset in the company to do the task.
Why else do companies outsource?
- Improves the focus of staff handling other tasks
- Makes better use of internal and external resources and knowledge
- Gaining access to experts and specialists
- Reduced costings
Of course, cost alone shouldn’t be the only reason that you outsource something. As a small business, you should weigh up the cost of what you could earn within the time you would be doing a task like Social Media Management or even Contract Management as https://www.templafy.com/contract-management/ provide.
With more and more companies starting in the home, outsourcing wasn’t really popular till the 90s. It became evident that there was a vast untapped pool of talent that could be hired on a job by job basis. This made sense in terms of taxes and time management. Financial services, IT, graphic design, website management, and even customer service jobs are all popularly outsourced.
How to make it a success:
As mentioned above you need to be sure that what you spend on outsourcing in terms of time and money is going to come back in the form of profit. It should always be done from a value-added perspective, not just because you can’t find time for it.
You should ideally be looking to meet these points:
- Strategic vision being supported
- You have a clear direction and the outsourced items further this
- Open communication between you and your freelancer – who expects what and when
Look for companies or freelancers that have worked in a sector similar to that of yours. Their experiences in another field may still be useful and applicable, but knowledge is something that you will be paying for.
Places you can outsource:
Initially many people aren’t sure where they can outsource. Here are a few places that you can outsource even in the smallest business.
- Social Media Management – Account creation, maintenance, content curation, and campaign management.
- Content Writing – For your blog, website, newsletters, and more
- General Virtual Assistant
- Web Developer – Website, forums and other
- Video Editor
- Marketing
- Customer Care
Administration tasks are a popular one to have outsourced. Writing emails, sorting the payroll out, invoicing, sales reporting, getting back to customers. Sometimes hiring a virtual assistant can get most of these taken care of and you will be working more closely with just one person.
Outsourcing will also give you more time to spend working on your business rather than wasting it on things that eat up your time, and sometimes don’t always bring the biggest reward.
What’s been your greatest fear of outsourcing? Lack of trust or integrity? Incredibility? Discontentment? Share below!
