Outsourcing

You know running a small business is anything but easy. The challenges and demands on your time, have multiplied, leaving you with less and less time being able to run the daily tasks needed to keep the business afloat.

A report by Gigaom found 14 percent of small business leaders are content with ho they allocate their time regarding business activities. Nearly half stated they spend more time on operational tasks than trying to grow the business. A full 92 percent planned on outsourcing at least one of their areas of operation in the future.

Though it is understood no two businesses are alike, it should still be noted that some standard services may make sense to look at outsourcing in an effort to reclaim time to put back into increasing business revenue strategies.

Information Technology:

It is a good idea at some point to examine options available related to contracting/engaging outside vendors or cloud-based solutions for the purpose of granting your business flexibility and a greater chance of expansion. Savings can reach 40 percent, which can go a long way to helping the business grow.

Accounting and Finance:

The majority of businesses still tend to keep payroll in-house and deal with it themselves. Outsourcing payroll services here will still guarantee compliance with annual tax returns and avoid late submission penalties in-which about 40 percent of businesses pay as a result of late filings.

People:

Bringing on-board contact freelancers, for example, has been shown to be a competitive advantage. They are a talent that you won’t usually have an opportunity to hire full time and are available only when you need them most. Ensure you are correctly classifying your outsourced workers, though, to avoid IRS scrutiny.

Marketing:

Social media, specifically the components dealing with eCommerce and Social Selling, is an area with massive impact from your business. As a small business, having a full-time staff consisting of PR, web design, and social media experts on hand isn’t always financially viable or, for that matter, the best use of your resources. If you are in the majority, you may be spending (or need to) about 33 hours a week just on marketing tasks. It might be time to do a self-check on this one.

Special Projects:

Where you are undoubtedly very knowledgeable in your field, special projects can require unique skillsets that generally go beyond your team’s familiarity with the major tasks related to the project. For example, your assistant or salesperson may know a bit about web design but not enough to build out your new professional trending website with a new eCommerce back end. Besides, this would be taking away from their regular duties, which is the main strength for which they were initially hired.

Final Thoughts

When you outsource, you are enabling yourself to focus time and energies toward the tasks you need to keep business coming in as well as to be able to source new business.

Granted, there are risks as you will be relying on an outside agency to perform the tasks you have been used to all this time, but these are professionals you have engaged in running those tasks. The advantages really do greatly outweigh any risk. Quality outsourcing, done effectively, will add skilled engagement to your team, without the added expense of a full-time employee.