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There’s a few myths people have about outsourcing. One is that it doesn’t make sense to pay someone to do what they can just do themselves. Another is thinking that they can’t afford to outsource.
While those are logical concerns, let me ask you a few questions:
Are you working too late?
On weekends?
Are your projects moving too slow because you’re getting caught up in all the details?
Whether you answered yes to all or only one of those questions, it’s time to outsource. Let’s start! First, DOWNLOAD THIS CHECKLIST.
The first thing you need to do is identify the tasks that aren’t the best use of your time. Start writing down the tasks but pay attention to how much time you spend on them. After you have your list think about what else you could focus on if these tasks were taken out of your hands. For example, let’s say you’ve noticed you’re spending 3 hours a day on handling customer service. 3 hours a day! Think about everything you could focus on instead if you freed up those 3 hours a day (or 15 hours a week Mon-Fri).
This wasn’t just a random example. It’s exactly what was happening in a friend’s business. When she finally let go of the control and handed this task over to her Virtual Assistant, it was only taking her (the VA) 2-3 hours a week total! Sure there was some extra time involved in the beginning to train the VA on how to handle things, but in the long run that extra time in the beginning is well worth it!
Let me back up for a second. If you’re just starting out outsourcing, I don’t recommend you start with a big task like that. It takes time to build trust and a good working rapport with a VA and to even find out whether the two of you will mesh well together. So, start with something smaller and work your way up to handing over the customer support. After all, that tends to be one of the hardest things to let go of.
So, let’s look at a different example now. Let’s say you produce a lot of small reports for your community. Do you love the creating part (writing the content, sharing examples or case studies, etc.) but hate the formatting and setting up the product portion of this process? I bet you notice a few things in this case – you procrastinate on the parts you dislike doing and it takes you a long time to complete it when you finally do take the initiative to get things done. Am I right?
Okay, so think about this – what if you could continue to only focus on the portion of these projects that you love and hand off the parts you don’t like doing? Do you think you would end up getting a lot more done and created for your audience? I bet you would! But, how? Outsource it of course! (Bet you knew I was going to say that.) You can hire a service provider on a retainer basis or even a per project basis to handle the formatting, turning into PDF files, and setting up the shopping cart/purchasing elements of each one of these tasks.
It’s a win/win situation for all involved. You get to focus on what you love doing, free up more of your time to do those things and a VA gets to handle what they’re good at. In the end, not only will you have more time but you’ll probably also have more income coming in (from all the extra content you have the time to create)!
If you have any problems coming up with your list or are ready to outsource, feel free to contact me.
Rebecca Paciorek is an Online Business Manager specializing in assisting in the growth of your business through traditional and digital means.
*I often recommend products and services that I use or that have been recommended to me by people we trust. In many cases these recommendations are accompanied by an affiliate link, which provides me with a referral commission should you click through and make a purchase.