6 Signs It’s Time to Outsource in Your Business
One of the most important decisions you’ll make as a business owner is determining when is the right time to hire out certain business tasks or projects. The common answer to this question is that you should outsource when you (a) are at capacity with what you can achieve in your business and (b) can afford to invest in hiring it out.
I don’t think there’s anything wrong with this mindset. In fact, if you’re at a point where a certain task or project is taking up hours of your day that you could be using to make income and you no longer have capacity for anything else in your business - that’s a very good sign that you should be hiring it out.
But what if hiring it out wasn’t just taking something off your plate but was actually a way for you to invest in your business and end up freeing up your time and making you more money? Before we go into the signs that you should contract out, quickly reframe what that means to you in your own business.
Nobody can do what you do - that’s why you’re in the business you’re in. But someone else can do the other tasks or projects that need to be done - but not necessarily by you. In turn, you’re left with more time to do the income producing activities that you got into business to do. Hiring out isn’t a liability, it’s an investment.
Now that we’ve gotten that straightened out - here’s how you determine which tasks and projects those are and when you should be hiring them out.
You Are Not An Expert In That Field/Industry
This in itself is one of the biggest reasons to outsource, and here’s two reasons why:
It may take you 20 hours to do what an expert can do in 5. That leaves you 20 extra hours to grow your business and you’ll see the results faster.
More than likely, I’m sorry to say, they will do it much better than you will. Their experience and expertise make them a valuable resource to you and your business. They know the pitfalls, they know what works and what doesn’t. Just as you know your business, they know theirs. There’s a reason you don’t go to your accountant for surgery or go to your doctor for legal advice.
So, the first question that you should ask to determine whether you should be hiring out a task or project is - are there experts out there that could do it better or faster?
2. You Find Yourself With Barely Any Time to Work On Growing Your Business
If you’re getting to Friday afternoon and realizing that your whole week felt like a hamster wheel of tasks and to-do lists… it’s a good sign you need to hire something out. The most important job you have as a business owner is to grow and sustain your business.
Depending on the industry you’re in, you should be time blocking in your schedule for one or a few of the following:
Brainstorming
Product and service development
Relationship building - whether that’s with clients, suppliers or other business stakeholders
Creativity
Learning and development
Management
Developing business systems that will push your business forward
By clearing out time in your schedule for these activities, you are actively investing in the future of your business resulting in more time, money and freedom.
4. You Can’t Automate It
There are certain tasks that don’t need to be done by a human. For example, if your business sends out invoices - automate them! There are plenty of CRM systems and automation tools that can save you so much time in your day-to-day business.
But, while smaller tasks like invoices can be fairly easily automated, other tasks and projects are not easily (or even possible) to be automated. For example, relationship building with clients and customers, blogging, social media content creation, marketing, accounting, brand design (wink wink).
If you can automate the task, that’s great! But if there are tasks or projects that cannot be automated and either (a) take a lot of time or (b) take a skill set that you don’t already possess - hire those out.
3. You Dread Doing It
Listen, I’ve taken a few accounting classes in my lifetime. But every time I look at accounting for my business - a wave of dread hits me. When I tell you, accounting was the first thing I hired out in my business - I mean that.
You probably started your business for one of a few reasons - passion, freedom, money, etc. But whatever it may be, I’m sure you never pictured the absolute dread of certain business related activities.
So sign number three… if it causes you significant stress or even at its worst makes you question being a business owner, hire it out. For the sake of your business and your sanity.
5. It Doesn’t Need You To Complete It
This one is generally accompanied by one of the other four reasons, but it is an important consideration. It’s almost the first line of defence when deciding if which tasks or projects you should hire out, because if it does need you to complete it… you probably shouldn’t hire it out. I know that may seem obvious when put that way, but I had to put it out there. When considering what to hire out - first consider which tasks you need to complete yourself and which don’t necessarily need you. For example, in my business, branding projects don’t go out without me. My expertise in brand design, kind of makes me an important part of that particular business process!
So, when determining which tasks you should hire out, first consider which ones you can’t or shouldn’t hire out. Then the rest of the tasks are free to go through steps one to four.
6. You Can Reasonably Afford To Hire It Out
All that I’ve written above come with a huge caveat: if you can’t reasonably afford to hire it out - it may not be time yet. There is value in hiring out a little before you’re ready in order to invest that time into your business, but if doing so means you may not be able to afford to stay in business - wait a little longer. You’ll know when you’re ready, and save this list if you need a refresher.