If you run your own small business, especially a service business you know that time is money. The more time you spend doing business related stuff that doesn’t directly generate any income is time that you are losing money, there are many aspects of running your business that you should outsource, this post will only look at the six which I think are most important. To decide whether you should be outsourcing a task or completing it yourself I would recommend you consider the time the task takes verses the money you could be making running your business, action reward. A sole trader completing tasks themselves may think they are saving money but in reality they are losing it.
Of course you could employ someone to carry out these tasks within but that only works if you have enough work to keep them occupied, there are also various cost involved in employing people. By outsourcing to a specialist company you may get the tasks completed more cost effectively, you may even get better performance. So what are my tip six things to outsource?
Cleaning has to be number one on this list. Cleaning is a time consuming chore that I, like many don’t like, my least favourite chore is cleaning dishes. I thought buying a dish washer would get me out of my least favourite chore but loading and unloading it was just as time consuming and boring, if you have a serviced office you may get the cleaning as part of your rent if not you will be wasting your own or your employees time. If you make your employees clean the office as part of their job you are just a cheapskate.
Even at home hiring domestic cleaners will give you more time to spend with family, some companies can help with ironing too. What’s your least favourite domestic chore?
Making good artwork is difficult, it requires specialist and expensive software like Photoshop or Illustrator. If you make your business logo in Microsoft Paint or your leaflets in PowerPoint they won’t look good will they? Since artwork is probably the first impression people will get of your business you want it to be good, nobody wants to do business with someone who makes his or her own graphics (unless they are a designer). If you really must make your own graphics I would suggest you download a Photoshop trial, there is also a very good open source software called Gimp.
Social media marketing is time consuming, it can really sidetrack you from running your business. There are tools that can automate your social media posting and follow people automatically but they don’t work that great, I would definitely recommend you find a specialist company to take care of social media for you.
Writing compelling content that makes people buy what you sell is time consuming, it requires practice practice and skill. In my opinion copy writing is something that should be outsourced but there are benefits to writing your own copy. A copywriter won’t know your business as well as you do, if you spend a lot of time speaking to clients you will have a good idea what they like about you and your business so this one depends on the individual and business. What do you think? Leave a comment below.
SEO is something that needs an on going effort, if you don’t keep working on your organic rankings your competitors will overtake you. Your blog needs to be updated regularly too, many small business owners start a blog with good intentions but they just don’t find time to update it.
If you outsource your SEO and blogging your blog can be kept up to date with engaging content and your organic rankings will keep growing. Many small business owners were hit by Google’s Panda and Penguin updates because they used cheap link building services, outsourcing to a content marketing specialist can make sure you keep improving your rankings.
It is a fact that when given a choice we will gravitate to what we enjoy and we usually enjoy what we’re good at, hopefully you have based your business around something you enjoy and are good at. By outsourcing your weaknesses and anything you don’t enjoy you will get the job done properly and be able to focus on what you enjoy, running your business.
This post was supplied by Mark Stubbles. In case you didn’t catch it in the article Mark wants you to know that he hates cleaning, he writes for Maids4Cleaning domestic cleaning in Surrey.
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