Outsourcing can be scary for small businesses. But almost every business can and should do outsourcing from time to time. You’re not just saving money; you’re freeing up your time to focus on the most important things for your business. In this post, we’ll introduce you to the world of outsourcing and help you understand when it might make sense for your business.

What is outsourcing?

Outsourcing is the practice of getting someone outside of your company to do a task for you. Outsourcing is not just for big companies that can afford to hire a team of assistants. Many small businesses outsource because it allows them to scale their business without adding lots of full-time employees. Outsourcing can take several different forms. The most common type of outsourcing is hiring a virtual assistant (VA) or a freelance worker to do a specific task for you. However, you can also outsource entire projects to consultants or use managed services that do work for you on an ongoing basis.

7 reasons your business should outsource

- Increased productivity: Outsourcing lets you focus your efforts on the most critical tasks. You can offload other, less important tasks to free up more time to focus on the most important things for your business. - Lower costs: Outsourcing can save your business money. It’s often cheaper to outsource a few tasks than to hire someone full-time. You can also get access to skilled labor at a lower cost by outsourcing to freelancers or hiring remote workers. - Access to specialized knowledge: Outsourcing lets you bring in experts with specific skills or expertise that you don’t have in-house. Whether it’s a marketing strategy, a lawyer, or a contractor, outsourcing lets you bring in people who know the ins and out’s of their field to help you out. - Scaling your business: Outsourcing allows you to scale your business by bringing in contractors or freelancers for one-time projects so you can handle more work without hiring a full-time team. You can also use managed services to get help with recurring tasks that don’t require employees. - Being more responsive to your customers: Customers want companies that are responsive to their needs, and outsourcing can help you achieve that. Outsourcing can help you respond to customers more quickly and give them the necessary information. - Finding specialized talent: Finding highly skilled talent is hard, and sometimes you just can’t find the right person for the job. Outsourcing allows you to hire people who specialize in skills you don’t have in-house, like coding, SEO, or design.

3 essential outsourcing tips

- Be clear about expectations: Make sure you have clear expectations about what your outsourced employees or contractors are responsible for. You don’t have the same relationship with outsourced employees as with full-time staff members. - Establish a work culture: When bringing in remote workers, you must create a work culture. This means having clear communication and expectations and setting up a system for feedback and reviews. - Hire for cultural fit: Outsourcing is an excellent way to hire people you wouldn’t otherwise be able to employ. But make sure you hire people for cultural fit, skill set, or experience. The outsourced employees must be an excellent cultural fit for your team.

2 things you should always outsource

- Customer service: Customer service should always be outsourced. You can’t build a scalable business around having an employee who spends their time talking to customers. Outsourced customer service representatives (CSRs) allow your business to scale while ensuring customers get the help they need. - Accounting services: accounting services are essential for any business. But you don’t want to spend your time dealing with financial reporting. These are areas where it’s critical you outsource so your business can focus on the most important tasks.

2 more things you should always outsource

- Content creation: Building a website, writing social media posts, or creating content for your email marketing campaigns takes time away from your business. You don’t have to do it all yourself if you don’t want to. Outsource content creation to save time and help your business build a more substantial online presence. - Code and technical work: Unless you’re a developer, you shouldn’t be building your website. Outsourcing code work, website design, and other technical tasks can save you time and headaches. You don’t have to be an expert to outsource code and technical work, either.

1 thing you should never outsource

This comes down to what’s most important for your business. If you’re having trouble deciding what to outsource, think about what your time is spent on. If you’re spending a lot of time doing something but it’s not critical for your business, it may be a good candidate for outsourcing. You may also want to consider what will happen if your outsourced employees leave. If you depend on a specific person for a task, and they go, you might not be able to get the same quality work completed by someone else. It’s crucial not to outsource something critical to your business.

Conclusion

Outsourcing is an essential tool for any business owner. It can help you scale your business, save money and free up your time. Outsourcing doesn’t just apply to administrative work or simple tasks like creating content. You can also outsource more complex projects like legal research or website development. There are many benefits to outsourcing, but it can be scary for small business owners who aren’t sure how to go about it. If outsourcing feels like a daunting task, don’t worry. This article has given you the tools necessary to make outsourcing work for your business.