Growing Your Business - The Art of Outsourcing

Given today’s climate, business owners are actively looking for ways to cut overall costs in their business whilst remaining competitive in the post lock down market. It is important for businesses to take into consideration the structure of their company and what tasks are performed where, how and by whom as these are all major contributors to the profitability and productivity of the business.  

Whilst it’s true that outsourcing is expenditure, it can actually help to grow your business and save money in the long run. Fortunately, due to the wealth of freelance workers and contractors out there and the abundance of skills they possess, there are no size restrictions on the type of company that can use outsourcing.

As a business owner, one of the main benefits to outsourcing is the freeing up of time. All those hours that would’ve ordinarily been spent on performing or managing menial, repetitive or even specialist tasks can now be spent focussing, improving and evolving your business to adapt to this new economic climate.

So what is outsourcing?

Generally, in the business world, outsourcing refers to the process of hiring an external freelance agent or contractor to provide support for or to completely perform a task that was previously undertaken in-house.

Most outsourcing is taken as a cost cutting measure, either for when a business needs extra support without employing a full time staff member or as a way of reducing workload for employees so that efforts can be focussed elsewhere.

What could a business outsource?

It’s natural to have concerns or be reluctant to take that first step into the world of outsourcing but it is crucial to remember that by outsourcing some of the key background activities in your business you could begin moulding your company into a much more efficient and productive model.

There really is no end to the type of tasks you can outsource, as long as you can find the right person with the skills you require then you’re very much good to go. Here are some base ideas for tasks that you can easily outsource to help grow your business and save money…

Bookkeeping

Now more than ever, finance is one of those areas where you really don’t want to be making mistakes. It might be tempting, especially for smaller businesses, to assume that undertaking this in-house is time and cost saving. In reality, if you’re lacking in core accounting skills then this can become a very time consuming and laborious part of your day that eats up large chunks of your time.

Outsourcing to a bookkeeping aficionado will not only give you the peace of mind in knowing that someone competent is handling your accounting but also could gain you valuable time back each day.

Content Marketing

It’s a tried and tested fact that good quality content marketing can not only produce new leads for businesses but also strengthen the relationship that a business has with its existing customer base. Like most companies, you may not have the required free budget to hire a fulltime in-house marketing executive or content writer and ideally shouldn’t be spending your time creating content if that isn’t your area of expertise.

The simplest answer to this is outsourcing, freelance content writers are widely available and will enable you to not only save time and money by freeing up time but also to increase your profitability by gaining new custom too.

Admin

That job that we all love to hate, whilst administration is 100% necessary within every business, it is very time consuming and is perfectly suited to being outsourced to outside contractors rather than being undertaken by business owners or employees specialising in other business areas.

Virtual assistants with scheduling software are widely available and are able to automate vast amounts of administrative tasks which will in turn allow you and your employees to utilise all of that newly discovered free time to focus on the growth of your company. As a general guide, anything considered as a repetitive or time consuming task within your business is one that you should be looking to outsource.

But how does it save money?

As your business begins to expand, so too does the workload. It’s not uncommon for yourself and your employees to begin to feel overloaded with work as you try to perform all of the day to day functions in-house. In doing so, businesses often begin to become more unproductive and less able to provide consistent levels of service.

Outsourcing can help to avoid this and whilst you do have to spend a small amount initially, the long term benefits are worth it. Outsourcing can provide you with the time required to learn, develop and grow your business which in turn leads to increased revenue long term.

Here are a few of the main benefits to outsourcing:

• Provides time to focus on business development.
• Can help cut costs or provide services without employing more staff.
• Helps with staff workload and increases productivity.
• Could help to avoid mistakes made by unskilled employees performing skilled tasks.
• Increases business efficiency.

How do I get the best from outsourcing?

If you decide to seek outsourcing externally then there are a couple of things you can do which will help to ensure a successful, productive and smooth business/contractor relationship.

Be clear and concise in your request to them, outline exactly what tasks you require and give adequate initial guidance to allow them to be able to perform the tasks effectively. Constant conversations to change parameters are convoluted and confusing for both parties.

Be ready to hand over the reins! It’s tempting, especially if you previously managed the task, to feel the need to micromanage or take control again. You must be able to let go and allow your contractor to work, if you try to spend all of your time overseeing them then this will render the whole concept of outsourcing pointless.

The truth is that running any business is never without trouble, outsourcing some of your more menial day to day tasks however, should not only make your own work day easier but can also help to grow your business and save money in the long term. If you want to discuss how Pink Spaghetti can assist you with any aspect of your business then you can visit here to find your local team today.