Outsourcing: When should you do it? And how do you do it?

By Alex Aldhous

Your business is your baby and, just like a baby, it can take a village to raise one!

WHEN SHOULD YOU OUTSOURCE?

There is a common misconception in the entrepreneurial world that we should do all the work ourselves and only outsource when we finally run out of hours in the day to complete everything. This is actually the wrong way to think about it, and business owners are often hampered by not outsourcing early enough in their business. Not only are you at greater risk of burnout from working stupid hours trying to do it all, but it will make delegation harder as you won’t have the time and space to do it strategically.

If you are at much more than 80% capacity and haven’t yet outsourced, it is time to start looking at it as your next step to allow you to continue to grow your business. In fact, you should outsource as soon as you can afford to!

The trigger you should be looking for is a consistent income; once you have regular monthly revenue at a maintainable level that is slightly more than you need to cover your expenses each month, start looking at outsourcing. It does not need to break the bank and there are many VAs (virtual assistants), OBMs (online business managers) and SMMs (social media managers) who welcome smaller monthly contracts over large ones. An investment of £100–£200 per month will have a much higher return on investment than keeping it as profit or taking it as lifestyle spending money.

WHAT SHOULD YOU OUTSOURCE?

Just because you can do certain tasks, doesn’t mean you need to, and outsourcing them to someone else frees up your time to focus on the income-generating work that is your core skillset. When you are looking at what you should outsource, start with tasks that you struggle with, or that could be done better by an expert, and tasks that take unnecessary time and do not require your intellectual input.

Just because you can do certain tasks, doesn’t mean you need to, and outsourcing them to someone else frees up your time to focus on the income-generating work that is your core skillset.

Typically, business owners start outsourcing tasks such as bookkeeping and social media and diary management as these are all areas where time can be saved by having someone else take the reins.

The benefit of having a bookkeeper or accountant take over your financial admin is they often do more than save you the time it takes to manage it: they can help to optimise your business and financial set-up, ensuring you are making the most of your tax allowances, keeping an eye on your expenses to make sure you are not wasting money, and removing a lot of the stress that comes with tax season!

Social media management and email marketing is another great way an expert can help you drive your business forward. Not only will they save you time creating graphics and posting to your social media profiles, but they will make sure this is done in the best and most optimal way for your audience. They will also make sure your posts are planned according to a marketing strategy, with a specific end goal in mind each time.

WHO SHOULD YOU OUTSOURCE TO?

Trust is the hardest step of delegating, and so finding the right person to outsource to is hugely important. This is another reason why you should be outsourcing early – because you need to have time to follow the process rather than making a panic-based reactive decision. Once you have decided what you are going to outsource, you can start asking your business network for referrals. This is always my first place to look for someone who has been recommended and tried and tested by someone I know and trust. A referral acts as a type of quality assurance.

I don’t, however, recommend going with the first person you are told about. Everyone is different and it is important you gel with the person you hire. They could be perfectly good at the job but if communication between you is not easy, it will become a strained relationship. You should be speaking to around 3 people – more than that will be overwhelming but too few doesn’t give you enough to compare.

When speaking to people, ask them about their process, the sort of work they have done before, their preferred communication channels, how much input they need from you and what is in scope/out of scope for them. Trust your instincts. You will know whether you trust this person or not. They don’t need to be your friend, but you will need a friendly relationship.

Ask each person to send over a proposal document with a quote and their terms of business; it is hugely important that both parties are protected by a contract, so if they don’t have one in place, this is a huge red flag. When making your choice, remember it is a business decision – you should never consider “hurting people’s feelings” as part of the process.

ONCE YOU HAVE THEM

Once you have someone on board, the hard work is not necessarily over. It can take one or two months for them to settle in and it is important that you enter this process knowing your own productivity may take a dip initially. Although this seems counterintuitive, twice the people should mean twice the work done. The time you will spend training and onboarding will inevitably take time away from your other work. This is totally normal and much easier to manage when you’re expecting it.

Delegation can be particularly hard when we have done something for a long time, as it can be easy to fall into the “my way is best” trap. When you find yourself micromanaging, consider whether your way is actually best, or whether its just more familiar. As long as the outcome is being reached, the method of reaching it doesn’t actually matter!