Running and operating your own business takes a lot of your time. As the business owner it’s your responsibility to see that your work is completed for your clients on time, and with the best customer service available. But, what happens if you start having more work than time? Or you seem to never get ahead of, or even keep up with, the work coming in? Maybe it’s time to think about outsourcing some of your work.
Outsourcing can mean a few different things depending on what your business is. If you’re a freelancer like me, this may mean hiring a contractor to help with different tasks in your business. Or, it could even mean hiring someone to help with things at home so you can dedicate more time to your business instead, like hiring a cleaning service, or finding childcare for your children.
No matter what outsourcing looks like for your business, here are some surefire signs to tell you it’s time to outsource some your work.
You Have More Work Than Time
Having plenty of work is a blessing, and a curse. This is a wonderful problem to have, but it doesn’t help you when you can’t get the work you have now done, let alone what may be coming down the pipe. If this becomes a repeat problem, you may need to hire a contractor or employee to help you. Working more hours yourself is not always the best answer.
You Need to Grow But Can’t Do it Alone
After a certain point, growth won’t happen if it’s just you working in your business. That’s when you need to find someone else to help with your current work tasks so you can focus on growing your business. Find a contractor or freelancer to take on part of your current tasks. This gives you more time to grow and expand your business.
You Can’t Add New Services Without Discontinuing Current Ones
Maybe you know the next trend is right around the corner. But, you can’t move toward it without dropping your current work. Maybe you are trying to offer a new service that would benefit your clients. But, you can’t because you are limited in time or personnel. This is where you have to make a tough decision to either discontinue some current services, drop clients, or start outsourcing.
If you don’t want to drop clients or services, outsource some of the work. Make sure your outsourced help keeps up the quality so you can focus on developing new services.
You’re Hired for Temporary or One-off Projects
Some clients like to work with a one-stop shop. That way they don’t have to manage multiple people to get their work done. This is where having a person to outsource to can be helpful. If you are hired to perform a project and you don’t have the skills to complete the whole thing start-to-finish, you may benefit from outsourcing part of the project.
Find a company or person that offers what you lack. Your client still gets the end product, and you get more time to work on the next task.
You Despise Certain Tasks
As a business owner, you may have to do some day-to-day stuff that isn’t very fun. But, if there is a task though that you utterly loathe, and procrastinate until the last minute, try outsourcing it. Chances are that it’s taking you more time and energy to grumble through it than it would be to get it done by someone who likes that particular task. Save yourself some heartache by hiring someone to do it for you.
Outsourcing may sound like a dirty word if you haven’t done it before. At first, it may feel like you are giving up on doing everything yourself when you used to be able to do so. But, outsourcing some tasks could end up growing your business in the long-run. Outsourcing isn’t a bad thing and might even lessen some of the day-to-day stress that many business owners feel.
Is it time for you to start outsourcing?
