Leveraging the capability of a small in-house team oftentimes requires employees to undertake tasks they don’t necessarily have expertise in. While this allows entrepreneurs and small business owners to save a bit of money, oftentimes, it can be more beneficial to outsource critical jobs or tasks to experts instead of doing it in-house.
Outsourcing has become a common feature of modern businesses, allowing employees and entrepreneurs to focus on more important operational efforts, while leaving other jobs to experts that can focus on one project at a time.
While not all businesses have the bandwidth to take on every task that requires the business to function properly, especially for newer and younger startups, finding suitable candidates to outsource to can help increase overall team productivity and company output, and help raise bottom-line performance.
Why Outsource Tasks As An Entrepreneur?
There are countless reasons why entrepreneurs, or in this case, small business owners, should consider outsourcing specific and highly-orientated jobs to third-party professionals.
Here are some of the basic benefits of outsourcing tasks as an entrepreneur:
Saving On Operational Costs
Research shows that a business can save roughly 30% on its overall operating costs when outsourcing tasks. This is because there is a decreased need for in-house employees, and some jobs can now be completed by outside professionals, either within the locale of the business or in lower-cost countries.
Increased Flexibility
Entrepreneurs have more flexibility in their schedules, which allows them more time to focus on important business features and improved systems.
Frees Up Employee Productivity
Instead of having several employees juggle different jobs all at once, outsourcing some tasks ensures that in-house employees now have more time to complete the jobs they were hired for, and gives them a better opportunity to increase their productivity output.
Outsourced Work Is Completed By Professionals
Some parts of the business may require assistance from professionals who can do delicate projects independently while maintaining a contractual agreement with the company. This means that niche jobs that aren’t within the scope of the business will be completed by professionals who are well-equipped and acquainted in their field.
Outsourcing Can Save The Business Money
In some instances, it’s been found that outsourcing manufacturing and production of goods can help save the business up to 20%. Furthermore, when outsourcing research and development, entrepreneurs and business owners can lower their expenses by up to 22%.
Helps Scale Business Workforce
Newly established businesses can quickly scale their workforce by outsourcing critical jobs to experts from outside their scope of practice. This gives them more opportunity to focus on developing critical business strategies that can help grow organizational prospects while delivering on their productivity output.
Delicate Valuable Resources
Having third-party freelancers or contract workers complete certain tasks, ensures that new business owners can dedicate valuable resources among in-house employees. This includes time and effort spent hiring new staff, training programs, and in-house resources available to in-house employees.
What Tasks Can Entrepreneurs Outsource?
Outsourcing can range from hiring a freelancer to employing a contract worker outside of the business. This ensures that entrepreneurs can access a larger pool of talent that is not directly available when acquiring new employees for the business.
Entrepreneurs can consider outsourcing some of the following tasks as they scale up their business during its primary development phase.
General Administration
Completing office-related administration such as responding to emails, following up with customer queries, or even running several social media accounts requires entrepreneurs to spend several hours per day to complete these tasks.
In fact, some research showed that entrepreneurs and business owners that work an average of 50 hours per week, spend roughly 31% strategically growing their businesses. The remaining 68% is used to complete daily problems and tasks.
Financial Services
According to U.S. Bank, nearly 82% of small businesses end up failing due to a lack of cash flow and financial problems. While outsourcing some tasks won’t help increase cash flow for the business, hiring a third-party employee to manage accounting and bookkeeping tasks can however ensure that available funds are being used appropriately.
Keeping track of expenses and general bookkeeping is not only a time-consuming job, but it generally requires entrepreneurs to know to set up a budget, manage their finances, control expenses, and understand the basic ins and outs of taxation.
By outsourcing these tasks, business owners can save time but also get a better hand on their accounting management efforts, which is a critical facet of any growing business.
Notarization
During the early years of any small business, entrepreneurs can’t hire an in-house notary. Nowadays, freelancers and agencies have trained professionals that can help with notary services, which ensures entrepreneurs are not required to sacrifice the legal security of their businesses.
Aside from hiring a third-party professional, there are also online notary services that can offer entrepreneurs more flexibility and convenience, while having all their notarization within one ecosystem.
Running several social media accounts, while promoting a business online has become more complex than what it was several years ago. Nowadays, social media trends and search engine analytics change seemingly every day, and entrepreneurs are required to keep up with all these changing trends as they develop throughout the years.
Instead of spending countless hours developing social media and marketing strategies that will target the right audience of clients. Outsourcing these tasks to younger and more tech-savvy freelancers ensures that the business will get the exposure it needs. Many young professionals in this area are constantly following new trends, and are well-versed in what consumers are looking for when browsing the internet.
Information Technology
Setting up, operating, and managing in-house IT services requires a lot of expertise and also a lot of time. Not having the right systems up and running can be a massive headwind for any small business that is looking to increase its business operations.
Using outsourced IT services or professionals means that entrepreneurs can install and maintain these systems remotely. On top of this, the business has a team of experts that can quickly and efficiently fix any digital issues in case something goes wrong.
Human Resources
Around 44% of new business owners spend roughly 30 hours per new employee according to research by The Kansas City Business Journal. What’s more, secondary research indicates that around 90% of entrepreneurs and small business owners are directly involved in the process of hiring new employees.
Sourcing, interviewing, and training new employees can take between one and two months, often stretching beyond. On top of this, there is federal and state worker legislation that employers are required to understand when hiring new staff.
Looking at the facts shows how important it can be for entrepreneurs to outsource their HR needs to trained professionals, that not only helps with the recruitment process but ensures the business follows the necessary federal and state employment procedures.
Sales Administration
Having a clear sales funnel or procedure can help businesses increase their productivity, but also help lift their bottom line. Although having access to the right pre-sales information, and post-sales customer support requires a team of experts that can compile this information for entrepreneurs.
Relying on old and outdated models or strategies will not only hurt a business in the near term, but it could slow down the delivery of predetermined goals and lack the fundamental structures that can help build and increase client retention, and customer service delivery expectations.
Payroll Services
Outsourcing payroll services to third-party professionals is nothing new, and in some instances, small business owners use digital software to control and monitor their payroll processing.
Although there are several digital platforms available to entrepreneurs that can help them manage their payroll services, outsourcing this job ensures that the business stays in line with employment regulations and that businesses are not required to rely on expensive payroll technology.
Shipping and Logistics
For businesses that sell and ship products, handling this yourself can be a tedious task, especially if products need to be sent across the country, or even further across the world.
Using an agency that primarily focuses on shipping, transportation, and logistics of goods ensures that a business will have its products delivered on time to its clients.
On top of this, building a relationship with these agencies can help entrepreneurs in the long term, and as their business grows, third-party logistic agencies can become a valuable asset to any business as eCommerce and online shopping continues to grow.
Design
Putting together designs for the business, whether it’s for labels, packaging, or even social media content requires a bit of creative experience and a lot of time behind design programs.
For busy entrepreneurs, who have the vision, but not necessarily the time, talent, or expertise to make these designs come to life, hiring a freelance graphic designer ensures that design work can easily be outsourced to a professional that can put together captivating content for the business.
There are a lot of graphic designers available to work, and for small businesses that do not have a large budget for design, there are also some helpful programs available online that they can use for free.
It is however in the best interest of the business to rather look to hire a professional graphic designer that can develop designs that correlate closely with the brand of the business and use the right aesthetic elements that will capture the audience’s attention.
Final Thoughts On Outsourcing Tasks
When outsourcing tasks to another person or third-party agency, have a clear idea of what you are looking for, and where you can find the right people for the job.
Don’t be scared to ask important questions, and make sure that you hire the right people that can provide you with samples of their previous work, or a portfolio of clients that they have worked with in the past.
Make an effort of it to look for professionals that align their values and work ethics with that of your business, as it’s usually easier to foster a relationship with professionals that share the same interest as your business.
Finally, when outsourcing to a freelancer, take the time t get to know them a bit better and communicate your needs properly. Furthermore, have an agreement set up that can help protect you from any legal action, your personal and company information, and that of your clients.
The more you begin to look around for individuals that can get the work done instead of hiring new full-time employees or having current staff deal with increased workloads, the easier it will be for you as an entrepreneur to leverage your time and resources to scale up your business.
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