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Many small business owners are reluctant to try outsourcing. Perhaps you feel as though you can’t justify the expense, or maybe you’re apprehensive about putting any aspect of your beloved fledging company into someone else’s hands. However, in reality these feelings are almost always misguided. Not only that but trying to do everything all by yourself – even as your business continues to grow – is a surefire way to burn out.
Instead, outsourcing certain parts of your operations to an expert freelancer or professional external company can be extremely beneficial for both you and your business. Read on to find out why.
The advantages of outsourcing
To begin with, when you opt to outsource you gain access to professionals who are true experts in their field. Whether it’s IT, finance or manufacturing, you’ll be able to tap into their years of knowledge and experience to help improve your business. This is especially important for small businesses, because you may not yet have the reputation to attract top talent or the budget for hiring many full-time members of staff. Plus of course, it’s impossible to be an expert at everything yourself.
Not only that, but you’ll also benefit from the use of the specialist technology and equipment these experts have. For example, this could be anything from cybersecurity software to a pallet network to deliver freight quickly and safely anywhere in the country. Again, this can save you money by removing the need to invest in expensive facilities and gadgets. It could also enable you to keep your rental costs low, as you won’t need more physical space for extra employees, stock storage or hardware.
One of the other big advantages of outsourcing is that it saves you time. You no longer have to worry about spending hours struggling through your accounting or packaging up your products. Instead, you can focus on the aspects of running your business that you enjoy the most, have a natural talent for or that only you can do. Got big plans to expand your entrepreneurial empire? This is the way to do it!
What can I outsource?
These days it’s possible to outsource pretty much anything! Some possibilities include:
- Manufacturing
- Logistics
- Data Entry
- IT
- Security
- Telesales
- Finance
- Payroll
- Customer Services
- Event Management
- Recruitment
- E-commerce Fulfilment
- Graphic Design
- Translation
The decision of what to outsource will come down to a number of factors including your industry, the size of your business, your personal strengths and weaknesses, your existing staff, your budget, and how much free time you have. You’ll likely find your needs change over time, so you can always increase or decrease the amount of work you’re outsourcing as and when it’s appropriate for your company.
Don’t forget that outsourcing doesn’t have to be permanent either. You can use it as a stopgap while you expand your in-house team, for one-off projects such as logo design, or for seasonal tasks where hiring full-time staff wouldn’t make sense. It can also be a temporary measure while you work on building your own skills in a certain area, in preparation for taking the task in question on yourself.
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