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Despite our best intentions, no business owner can be expected to excel in every role! The foundation of any business is built upon the strengths of its employees, and without a diversity of skills and thought, success is nearly unachievable.
However, many entrepreneurs go the route of stacking their plates high with responsibility. Whether they’re motivated by reducing expenses or a fear of relinquishing control – the resulting outcome is often the same.
Burdened by an enormous, bloated workload, these entrepreneurs often become overworked, compromising the growth of their business in the process.
Fortunately, enlisting the skill of others for your business doesn’t have to break the bank. In fact, done right – the benefits of hiring help can far outweigh the costs.
Digital communications have made outsourcing more accessible and cost-effective than ever before. In addition, outsourcing to freelancers rather than full-time employees eliminates the need to provide workplace benefits like health insurance.
With the right contracting in place, you’ll be able to hire experts to bridge the gaps of your own inexperience and reduce your workload, all without severely affecting profits. Best of all, you’ll have more time and energy to dedicate to what’s really important – making your company the best it can be.
For small businesses and large-scale companies alike, everyone has something to gain from outsourcing. Learn more about staff outsourcing here. Whether you’re just curious or want to get started outsourcing yourself, here’s how, step-by-step – courtesy of us here at Yocale!
Step 1: Determine What Needs To Be Outsourced
Consider what tasks in your daily work life are repetitive time-sucks, as these often make the best candidates for outsourcing.
Then, consider your strengths in business. What roles and decisions are most valuable to you and most formative to your business?
On the other hand, your weaknesses in business can be overcome with outsourcing, too. There’s no reason to spend time on tasks that are overly difficult for you, especially when they impede you from excelling in other areas.
However, it’s important to note that you shouldn’t outsource something because you don’t want to do it. Instead, focus on long-term growth: identify tasks that prevent you from attending to the continued growth and formation of your business.
For example, an online business might want to outsource the following:
- Website maintenance/Debugging/IT
- Client management
- Article writing/Copywriting
- Payroll/Finances
- Inventory
- Data entry
Now that you’ve weighed out your options for outsourcing, prioritize them by convenience. If you were to outsource these tasks, which would provide the most notable return?
Step 2: Start Searching For Contractors
Once you’ve prepared a list, it’s time to start outsourcing!
While beginning your search via an online hiring marketplace might be tempting, take a second to consider your local options first.
If you have any connections that might be able to point you in the right direction, be sure to heed their advice. They may be able to vouch for local contractors that they’ve had compelling previous experience with, or find a good fit based on peer recommendations.
If not, your best bet is to begin looking online. Sites like Upwork and Indeed are great places to start.
During this evaluation process, it’s essential to have a clear idea of what you’re looking for.
Are you looking for cheap labour or quality professionalism? Full-time or part-time commitments?
Establish clear criteria and write them down for quick reference while you browse through your prospective contractor options. Be sure to take note of a candidate’s prior work history and peer recommendations, if available.
If you’re not satisfied with your local contracting options, you can always broaden your search geographically, too. Just keep in mind that communicative issues may arise due to the difference in time zones.
Step 3: Seal The Deal
Once you’ve narrowed your search down to a few potential options, begin communicating with your prospective contractors, keeping your original criteria in mind. It’s crucial to be both transparent and realistic with your expectations in order to come to a mutual understanding between you and your contractor.
If you need to, create an outline with specificity in mind for your contractor to look over. Keep rates and performance metrics in mind (such as words per hour, or an hourly rate) to make the most of your partnership and ensure your contractor is well-informed (rather than assuming!).
Once the paperwork is taken care of, and your contractor is onboard, you’re good to go – but your responsibilities don’t end here!
Step 4: Begin Assigning Work And Remain In Contact
Now that it’s official between you and your contractor(s), it’s time to let them do their job – but also do yours. Aside from establishing some initial guidelines and remaining in close contact, try to develop a balance of control and trust during this stage.
While it’s advantageous for everyone involved to be attentively communicative post-hire, being overly controlling defeats the purpose of contracting in the first place. If you’re confident in the guidelines you’ve established, there’s no reason to be fearful or obsessive regarding your contractor’s work.
Take a step back and wait until the first few jobs are done before evaluating their performance. There’s typically a learning curve for your contractor to overcome during this phase, so allow them ample time to find their groove.
Step 5: Looking Towards The Future
After allowing some time to pass with your contractor(s) working away behind-the-scenes, gauge the quality of their work and its overall impact.
Does their work justify its cost? Or, is there a more cost-effective strategy you could employ?
During this stage, your conclusions might necessitate a revision of your original terms and guidelines. Based on your insights, tighten up your expectations or loosen them as needed.
Going forward, make sure to re-evaluate a contractor’s contributions every so often – but once again, don’t be afraid to keep a safe and healthy distance!
After all, the right contractors can help strengthen your business and elevate it beyond your own individual capabilities. As digital innovator Steve Jobs once said, “great things in business are never done by one person; they’re done by a team of people.”
We’d certainly agree. And with that, we’d like to wish you and your business the best of luck!
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We hope you’ve enjoyed this post! For more on business strategy, online and off – keep up with us here, five days a week at the Yocale blog!
