Internet Business Success, Entrepreneurship, & Lifestyle Design
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Outsourcing is nothing new. People have been using this little trick of the business trade for hundreds if not thousands of years. But in our era, outsourcing is now more accessible than ever. The Internet and wide-reach of technology in general has made it so much easier to tap labor forces across the globe in a matter of minutes with little effort.
I didn’t write this to try and prove to you that outsourcing works. I know it works and, hopefully, so do you.
I wrote this post to offer a nice overview on the topic so you can get a better idea of where you might stand with your own business. If you’re not already outsourcing tasks in your operations, I think this article will turn you on to the idea and encourage you to take action today. If you’re already an outsourcer, I hope this article encourages you to reflect on new ideas to improve your existing system. Maybe you need to outsource less. More likely, maybe you need to outsource more. Give it a read and see what you think.
The easy answer to our first question is EVERYONE. In fact, even if you’re not a business owner, you probably already have experience with some form of outsourcing. Do you pay someone to mow your lawn? Do you take your weekly laundry to your local dry cleaner? Are you paying a paperboy to toss the Daily News on your doorstep? All of these are examples of everyday outsourcing.
But the rules in business are a bit different than personal services. The general idea is this — in business, outsourcing can save you precious time to help you complete a task so you can focus on more pressing and high-priority issues. The problem with entrepreneurs is we think we’re great at everything. We’re control freaks at heart. And, in many cases, we are really good at the tasks we do. But only a handful of tasks in every business are really so critical that they deserve our personal and daily attention.
Although every business owner should outsource at least some aspect of his or her business, not every entrepreneur is immediately ready for outsourcing. If your business is still in stage one development (aka you’re not really making money), then outsourcing is probably not right for you. Then again, this is not always true. Perhaps your lack of funding and inability to focus on critical tasks to move your business forward are precisely the reasons you’re not moving into a profitable stage. Outsourcing might be your ticket to success at even the earliest stages of some business models…
Any area of your business that is not already automated should be considered a candidate for potential outsourcing. I would suggest starting by making a list of all the things you do or steps you take on a daily basis. Your goal is to eliminate as many mundane or repetitive tasks as possible so you can focus on the high-value work.
For example, suppose you have an online business running a membership website. The most important tasks in your business are likely 1) getting new members and 2) producing new valuable content for your members. Within those two categories are very long lists of smaller tasks you fulfill in order to reach your goals. This is where you have to ask yourself, could somebody else do this for me?
In business, this question can be very hard to answer honestly. In the personal services realm it’s almost always a no-brainer. Of course I pay someone to cut my hair. Could you imagine what it would look like if I did it myself? Are you crazy?!?!
This is one of the advantages of learning more about the 80/20 rule and applying it to get more results in your business. Sure, maybe you can do many things yourself. But the more you outsource, the more you can focus on the key tasks that generate more profit and bring more results. Determining which tasks are most critical and which tasks are secondary to the goal of building your business is the first step!
As I pointed out above, you should start doing it as soon as you identify tasks that eat up your time and prevent you from completing the really critical steps.
In my own marketing business, I realized at some point that I could only focus on building the business and creating more profit if I started sharing some of it with other people. This is that enigmatic message you’ll hear from successful entrepreneurs all the time — the best way to get wealth is to help other people get wealthy. Well, this is exactly the point. By sharing some of the profits you already have now, you can start increasing the total profit of your business long-term. That’s entrepreneurship at its finest.
It can be difficult to determine exactly when you should start outsourcing. Some areas can wait, while others will need to be handled by someone else as quickly as possible — perhaps even from day one. This is where trial and error is required. Experiment and go with your gut. You know when things are piling up, and you have to be honest with yourself if you expect your business to grow. The hardest part about choosing a time to outsource is accepting that more money will be flowing out of your business initially. But if you play your cards right, the investment should pay off soon enough.
Outsourcing is as easy as pie these days. There are a myriad of websites and directories and networks where you can either hire full service firms or you can find freelancers who will do particular types of work for you. From website design to organizing your email, from mail handling services to taxes, outsourcing is a true art and there are tons of options available out there.
Here are a few I’ve worked with at one point (or still do) and can recommend:
This is a fairly new firm based in New York and operating out of India. I used their service for about two months before deciding to go with another firm. They aren’t bad, I was just too busy to handle both firms at the same time and the other was better.
This is the firm I still use today. They provide excellent customer service and are very concerned with keeping you happy. Be VERY specific when you tell them what you want so you get the right assistant.
If you’re looking for a few hired hands, Craigslist is pretty darn good. Some folks swear by it. I won’t go that far (it gets a bit too spammy for me at times) but it’s an excellent starting point.
Ideal for web design, web programming, or similar types of work that require a real expert. Spend time interviewing providers before you blow the whistle.
All of these websites make outsourcing easy, but I would also recommend looking around at your existing business and social networks. You may know someone who can do the job for you. Depending on the type of work you need done, a personal relationship could be a major advantage or a tremendous disadvantage. Keep that in mind when you’re choosing the person for the job.
This point should be obvious enough. Outsourcing saves you time and should help you make more money. I’m not a big fan of cleaning my house. I’d much rather spend the time having fun and relaxing or working on a high-value project than do it myself. Simple enough.
But there’s another benefit to outsourcing: It makes you feel more executive and thus more responsible for your business. You begin to realize just how important it is to delegate. This is an important lesson to learn!
The most important thing you can do at this point is to get started NOW. Outsourcing isn’t going to come to you, you have to go to it and make it happen. Try out two or three service firms or other resources and just see how they go. Even if you lose a bit of money and it doesn’t work out, the learning experience will be immensely valuable to your growth as an entrepreneur and to the growth of your business.
I recommend taking action immediately. Add it to your list right now! Then, commit to spending a few minutes every day looking at new options or 30 minutes every week reviewing the results of your current outsourcing efforts. Outsourcing could make or break you, so learning how to do it the right way now is incredibly important.
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Although extremely beneficial, I have had some problems training outsourcers. I find that it takes up much of my time and it doesn’t come out the way I visioned it. Perhaps I am a bad manager. Do you have any advice on how to make sure you get the results you are looking for in outsourced labor and talent?
Great question! Training outsourced staff is super important. Here are my tips for getting the training right…
1. Be very detailed.
You’ve been doing this work for months or even years in some cases, so you can’t expect these people to know everything you do.
2. Create videos, manuals, or other materials.
Training materials are essential. This way, if you need to train someone else at another time or if the assistant forgets how to do something, you’re not losing more of your time.
3. Demand excellence.
You absolutely must insist that your assistants get their work done correctly. That’s what you’re paying them to do, so they should do it.
Stephanie’s right – training is so critical to successful outsourcing. I’m glad she pointed it out.
Great article, Jason.
I would make one additional point, though, is that if you can’t afford to outsource because of cash flow issues, you either need to do the work yourself, or negotiate up front. I’ve been outsourced to by someone who couldn’t afford to pay – and it’s really irritating to do the work and not be compensated.
I think what I would therefore add to this would be a measure of having reached the stage where you need to either hire someone, or outsource some of your work. At that point, these questions and comments you make provide real value. I think it was Joel Spolsky who said that his first hire was for an admin assistant – in a technical company, because he didn’t want to do that work anymore, and it wasn’t core to his business.
When you reach the point that you can afford to hire someone, consider outsourcing some of your support tasks before hiring someone.
Elie – you’re absolutely right. Timing your move to outsourcing is a very sensitive decision and should not be taken lightly.
I suppose there are two problems to avoid: outsourcing too quickly OR outsourcing too late.
And I like your comment about taking it in steps. First, start with the basic tasks. Not only will this be easier to manage, you’ll also get lots of experience working with someone else before jumping into the deep end with consultant, sales reps, and the like.
Excellent points!
I’m with both you, Jason, and Stephanie: entrepreneurs are control freaks by nature – I am no exception – and I’ve found it tough to efficiently find people who can do what I need done. What this has forced me to do time and again is revisit my own work flow and lifestyle design to streamline as much as possible, sometimes sacrificing growth to avoid being overextended.
My first foray into outsourcing has been to actually hand over things I don’t like doing OUTSIDE of business: cleaning my house, grocery shopping, tracking people’s birthdays, etc. I was not born to be a house wife, clearly. But you’re right, Jason, it’s time to make the leap and move outsourcing to my business. Thanks for the article – and the reminder!
I tried to hire content writers on Elance.com, but the writing samples submitted by the providers were terrible. I simply canceled the project altogether.
I guess successful outsourcing depends upon “what” you’re actually outsourcing. Good writers are hard to find.
Allene, you’re definitely right. Outsourcing results can really depend upon the type of project you’re looking to fulfill. Quality writing at an affordable price can be a really difficult thing to do. At the risk of being too self-promotional, I can’t help but recommend checking out one of my own services at http://www.SeoArticleWritingPros.com for help with this part of your outsourcing process.
What about the really time consuming tasks like printing and binding books, CD/DVD duplication, and everyone’s favorite of mailing/shipping physical products? Who can help with that?
Absolutely! Disk.com is where it’s at for outsourcing physical products. Great to meet you at the conference, Jason!