Outsourcing work when you run your own business is a scary prospect. How do you know when you’re ready to outsource work? Are you even ready?
Entrepreneurs often have the mindset of ‘If I can do it myself, I should do it myself.’
In my experience, there are two main reasons for this.
First of all, it’s very scary to think about handing any part of your business over to someone else. After all, that business started out as an idea in your mind. And it was you who worked hard to get it to where it is today. If you outsource to someone who gets things wrong, it will be you and your business who suffers (I’ll talk about hiring the right people in another post, don’t worry).
Secondly, there is a common mind block amongst small business owners that outsourcing is only for big companies and corporations. This simply isn’t true. Yes, you need to be making enough money to pay someone else to complete tasks for you, but that’s pretty much the only requirement.
You will come to a point in your business that, if you want to continue growing, you will need some help. This post will explain to you how you’ll know when it’s time to get that help and know that you’re ready to outsource work.
HOW TO KNOW WHEN YOU’RE READY TO OUTSOURCE?
1. THE HUSTLE ISN’T REAL
First off, I’m going to bust one of the biggest entrepreneurial myths out there…
…you DON’T have to ‘hustle hard’ if you want to be successful.
Yep, you heard me (well, you read me) right!
Starting and running an online business IS a lot of hard work. It takes time, dedication and a whole load of passion for what you are doing.
It doesn’t, however, require you to hustle.
In my mind, hustle means working all hours of the day and sacrificing pretty much everything else in your life. Don’t get me wrong, there were one or two days that I had to do this when I was getting things set up but it’s certainly not how you should be doing things long-term. That’s how you get burnt out!
So, if you’re finding that you’re working all hours of all days and feeling pretty damn exhausted, it’s probably a good sign that you’re ready to outsource work.
WHY YOU SHOULD OUTSOURCE
Like I just said, you don’t have to hustle to be successful.
So, if your current workload means that you’re working every waking hour (plus a few hours that you should be sleeping), then it’s time to start outsourcing some of your work.
Not only will hiring a VA allow you to take some time off but it will also free up some time for you to focus on the really important, money-making parts of your business. If you’re not spending time on admin tasks or social media, or whatever you decide to ask your VA to help you with, you can spend more time on the parts of your business that really matter – the parts that bring in the £.
Download my Freebie on How to Hire your First Virtual Assistant
2. YOU’RE TURNING WORK AWAY
If you’re having to say “no” to new clients and new job opportunities because you don’t have time to complete the work, it may be time to outsource some of your work.
You know that you could be helping more people and making more money if only you had a few more hours each day. But instead of working with more clients and transforming more lives, you’re stuck doing the small administrative tasks within your business.
If this sounds familiar, you’re definitely ready to outsource some of those admin tasks and free up more of your time to focus on serving your people. Not only are you effectively losing money by turning those prospective clients away, but you’re also turning away new relationships and learning opportunities.
Note: Being too busy with other tasks to take on more work is very different to not taking on more work because you don’t want to! Remember, you are a business owner and your own boss. You only have to take on as much work as you want to (or need to in order to pay your bills!!)
WHY YOU SHOULD OUTSOURCE
Having a VA to assist you with your day-to-day business tasks will give you time, space and energy to take on more clients and continue to grow your business (and income).
It also means that you can focus your attention on serving your clients without being distracted by all of those other tasks you were previously dealing with. With fewer distractions, you will be able to provide those clients with an even higher level of service. By providing your clients with an exceptional level of service, they are much more likely to become loyal clients who keep coming back to you time and time again, as well as recommending you to people they know.
3. YOU’RE FOCUSING ON DAY-TO-DAY TASKS INSTEAD OF LONG-TERM STRATEGY
This is easily done.
You have a to-do list a mile long. And, as soon as you get about halfway through the list, it doubles in size again.
Whilst you’re working your way through these day-to-day tasks, you’re ignoring the bigger picture. You’re treading water just to stay afloat but you’re not actually making it any closer to shore.
By focusing on the day-to-day tasks you’ll keep your business running but without focusing on your long-term strategy you won’t be able to grow and scale your business.
But this is another sign that you’re ready to outsource work. You’re ready to get someone to help you with those day-to-day tasks so that you can focus on the bigger strategy stuff. Remember, you are the CEO and that bigger strategy and growth stuff is your responsibility now.
WHY YOU SHOULD OUTSOURCE
By outsourcing the boring admin and day-to-day tasks, you will not only start enjoying your days more, but you’ll free up more time to focus on the long-term strategy.
That passive income stream you wanted to create? Well, now you suddenly have time to work on writing that course content and building those sales funnels. Those new WordPress themes you wanted to develop? Yep, you’ve got time to code those too! That coaching program you wanted to offer?…you’ve guessed it!
Here's a free guide on hiring your first virtual assistant!
4. YOUR WEBSITE AND BLOG ARE OUTDATED
I am actually really guilty of this (although, it’s one of my goals for this year to keep on top of them!)
When you’re busy focusing on your main income streams, whether that’s creating products or providing services to your clients, your own website can fall by the wayside.
You can become so focused on the aspects of your business that make more directly, that you actually run out of time to do anything else. There are pages on your website that are full of broken links and the last time you published a new blog post, Harry Potter was still at Hogwarts.
In a similar vein, you probably haven’t posted on social media recently either. When you’re running an online business, your social media accounts are like your online business card and are essential to building your brand and promoting yourself.
WHY YOU SHOULD OUTSOURCE
Keeping your website and/or blog updated is the best way to showcase your work and professionalism online.
You want your website and blog to not only demonstrate your skills but also show your audience and potential clients/customers that your business is still active and relevant.
Your website is an essential part of your marketing regardless of what type of business you are running. If you sell physical products, it’s a place to show your products to customers. If you’re a copywriter, it’s a place to show off your writing skills and to house your portfolio so that potential clients can see examples of your past work.
Having a blog on your website is also a great way to drive traffic to your site and attract new clients and customers.
So, why not hand this over to someone else and have one less thing on your plate?
5. YOU’RE NOT SEEING MUCH GROWTH
This is really an amalgamation of all of the above points.
You’re trying to do #allofthethings. You’re doing day-to-day tasks and not focusing on your long-term strategy. Your own blog and website have fallen into disrepair. You haven’t posted on social media in forever. And you’re having to turn clients away even though you want to help and need the money.
You’re basically stuck where you are and you’re not seeing much (if any) growth.
And the only way that you’re going to start seeing growth in your business is to have more time. I’m sorry to break it to you but there simply isn’t ever going to be more time unless you outsource work!
WHY YOU SHOULD OUTSOURCE
Okay, so this isn’t “a task” that you can outsource as such but there are a number of tasks you can outsource to help with the growth of your business.
This can be done in one of two ways.
You can outsource the day-to-day, more mundane/admin-y type tasks to give you more time to focus on growing your business. OR you can outsource work such as social media and marketing which will help you grow your business in a more direct way by driving more traffic to your site.
Whichever way you decide to approach this one, the key here is that an extra pair of hands – regardless of where you choose to focus them – can help you grow your business faster than you could do alone.
If you think you’re ready to outsource some of your business tasks, get in touch with me here to see how we could work together to not only free up more of your time but also grow and scale your business!
