Outsourcing is a hot topic among entrepreneurs and small businesses. It used to be an option available primarily to larger scale organizations, but outsourcing can now be an affordable and money-saving alternative for businesses of all sizes. This is mostly due to the growth of new business models that offer support services in the business-to-business sector.
Most entrepreneurs go into business for themselves because they have a passion for what they do, and the back-office management and maintenance is a necessary evil. At some point, after going independent, many entrepreneurs come to one of two realizations:
• They have lost their drive for success because tending to the overall operations of the business has caused burnout. They no longer come to work each day excited to tackle a day filled with what they love to do.
• Business has become so prosperous that it’s impossible for one person to handle the volume of work that needs to be done, as well as the bookkeeping or other office management tasks.
Both are equally as common, although the latter seems a much more appealing reason to bring about the necessity of outsourcing. Regardless, in both of these situations it’s necessary for the business owner to take action. Options include hiring a staff person to handle a certain aspect of running the business, which comes with other challenges, or outsourcing some non-core activities.
Outsourcing makes more sense if your need consists of what would amount to only part-time work, but also has advantages if the workload is comparable to full-time. By outsourcing your busy work to an outside agency, you eliminate the need to manage staff, complete all the paperwork, and the payroll and tax complexities that come with having employees.
In order to determine which activities you might be able to outsource, take stock of your core competencies and get back to the basics. Why did you start your business in the first place? What was it that made you excited to get out of bed and start your day each morning? What is it that you do that your customers find value in? These are your core competencies, and the tasks that you should focus your energy on. Not only will this make you much more efficient, but it will allow you to get your drive and motivation back that you may have lost due to burnout.
Are there discrete tasks that someone else – either an individual or a professional services firm -- can handle better or more cost effectively? By outsourcing the tasks that may be more effectively handled by an expert in that field, you gain additional time that could be spent recharging your batteries, spending quality time with your family, or building your business by taking on additional or larger assignments.
As a small business, you might have big competitors that have an impressive team of in-house experts that allows them to take on projects you typically wouldn’t touch. If you learn the game of outsourcing, you could build a network of highly qualified experts that you could bring in on a project basis, which would allow you to compete more effectively with some of the bigger operations in your industry.
New companies are building complete business models around handling tasks for businesses that can easily be outsourced, such as payroll, HR, accounting, billing, collections, and even call center management. This means that finding a quality vendor should be fairly straightforward, but nonetheless, you should research a company before entrusting anyone with sensitive information.
Outsourcing makes sense in today’s business landscape, as a money and time saving strategy for small and large businesses alike.
