Do you sometimes feel like the 24 hours in your day isn’t enough? As an entrepreneur, I understand how it feels to have a seemingly never-ending list of things to do. Wearing many hats is a given for any business owner, but spreading yourself too thin can take a toll on your physical and mental health, as well as cloud your judgment and strain your personal relationships. It doesn’t make sense for you to do everything. That’s why many successful business owners know that delegation is a vital part in achieving optimum productivity and growth.
The solution that many businesses turn to is outsourcing. With the current advancements in technology and a wide range of solutions available (from hiring freelancers to partnering with outsourcing services providers), it’s now easier and a lot more convenient to hire remote staff to do augment some of your business’ functions. Here are some of the tasks you’re better off outsourcing:
- Accounting/Bookkeeping
Many people find bookkeeping and numbers mundane – which is why this area is one of the most common business functions that owners outsource. Payroll, invoicing, filing taxes, and managing the day-to-day finances can be time-consuming, but it can be done by a variety of accounting programs available or by hiring freelance accountants. As operations evolve, it becomes more important to hire someone with more experience for better efficiency and fewer mistakes.
- Graphic Design and Web Development
Nowadays, digital presence is a must-have for any thriving business. Because your website is the face of your company, it is important to have it designed responsively and aesthetically. Many business owners choose to outsource the development to project-based teams, to save on costs and to ensure faster turn-around. Moreover, if your site only needs simple updates from time to time, you wouldn’t really need full-time staff to monitor it.
- Customer Support
Almost 54% of all companies use third-party support teams to connect with customers. The quicker calls are answered and inquiry tickets are attended to, the faster they convert to sales. In today’s age where customer experience is fast becoming the major differentiator between brands, having a dedicated team handle customer inquiries is big boost for any business.
- Administrative Tasks
Dread going through your inbox? A virtual assistant can help sift through your emails to allow you to focus on ones that need your immediate attention. In addition to this, a VA can also do other clerical tasks such as setting up appointments, scheduling, making travel arrangements, and the like. The right assistant can help you juggle your work responsibilities, and even help you organize matters in your personal life.
- Social Media/Content
As previously mentioned, a solid online presence is now a necessity. Outsourcing social media management to a professional who can come up with great copies, visuals, and other forms of content regularly that matches the voice of your brand will keep your pages current and relevant to prospective clients and customers. Also, timely interaction through community management is very helpful in creating a loyal customer base.
Take a good look at your processes and decide which areas of your business you should consider outsourcing. Some guiding questions you should ask: Which tasks do I not enjoy doing? Which ones can relieve my team from excess work and help them focus on higher-level responsibilities? Are my employees overloaded/overworked? Do I have skill gaps in my organization? In which areas? Which tasks are repetitive? Am I an expert at this? What tasks am I particularly not good at? Will outsourcing this specific area propel my business forward? By delegating some tasks to others who are qualified and can consistently produce excellent results, you can spend more time innovating and actually growing and moving your business upward. Choosing the right business functions to outsource and the right outsourcing services provider to partner with will not only save costs in the long run, but this will also give you more time to focus on the critical parts of the business. Remember that the best ROI any entrepreneur can have on an expense is something priceless, something that money cannot buy: TIME. Time is the one resource you cannot replenish once lost.
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