Misconceptions of Outsourcing

People have a few misconceptions regarding outsourcing:

• One of them is that it makes no sense to pay someone to perform something they can do themselves.
• Another mistaken belief is that they cannot afford to outsource.

While they are valid issues, allow me to pose a few questions:

• Are you staying up too late?
• On the weekends?
• Are your initiatives developing too slowly because you’re too preoccupied with the details?

It’s time to outsource, whether you responded yes to all or just one of those questions.

Let’s get started! The first step is to identify the chores that aren’t making the best use of your time. Begin jotting down the duties, but keep track of how much time you spend on them. After you’ve made your list, consider what else you could focus on if these tasks were taken away from you.

Assume you’ve discovered you’re spending three hours every day on customer service. Three hours per day! Consider what you could do instead if you had an extra three hours a day (or 15 hours a week Mon-Fri).

This was not a random example. This is exactly what happened at a friend’s business, and when she eventually let go of control and delegated this duty to her Virtual Assistant, it only took her (the VA) 2-3 hours per week! Sure, there was some extra time involved in the beginning to train the VA on how to handle things, but that extra effort, in the beginning, was well worth it in the long run!

Let me take a step back for a moment. I wouldn’t advocate starting with such a large work if you’re new to outsourcing. It takes time to develop trust and a strong working relationship with a VA, as well as to determine whether the two of you will work well together. Begin with something simple and work your way up to handing over customer support. After all, that is one of the most difficult things to let go of.

Let’s have a look at another example. Assume you write a lot of little reports for your community. Do you enjoy the creating part of the process (writing the content, sharing examples or case studies, etc.) but despise the formatting and product setup? In this case, I’m sure you’ve noticed a few things: you procrastinate on the portions you despise doing, and it takes you a long time to finish it when you eventually do take the initiative to get things done. Am I correct in thinking this?

So, consider this: what if you could continue to focus on the aspects of these tasks that you enjoy and delegate the parts you don’t? Do you believe you’d end up doing and creating a lot more for your audience? I’m sure you would! But how exactly? Of course, outsource it! (You probably knew I was going to say that.)

You can employ a service provider on a retainer or per project basis to handle the formatting, PDF conversion, and shopping cart/purchasing portions of each of these activities.

It’s a win-win situation for everyone. You get to focus on what you enjoy doing, freeing up more of your time to do so, while a VA handles what they’re skilled at. In the end, you’ll not only have more time, but you’ll also likely have more income (from all the extra stuff you’ll have time to create)!