We’re always looking for relevant topics to bring you on the GoSquared blog.
This week, a discussion by a tech founder on Twitter caught our eye. The topic was on whether or not other founders outsourced tasks including home chores. In short, the demands of running a business and parenthood left little time for everything else that needed to be done in the OP’s life. They were super stressed.
Truth be told, most of us can relate to not having enough time in the day. Before you know it, everything starts to slide from your business to your home life.
Outsourcing is one such way to lighten the load. It’s something businesses have been doing for years. Though, it can also be used to create a better work/life balance in general.
Here’s why, along with an overview of how outsourcing actually works.
What Is Outsourcing?
Outsourcing is when you hire a third party to complete tasks on behalf of your business, whether this is in the form of an individual or a company.
Basically, when you have the realisation that you cannot do it all alone – you get other people to help you.
In terms of what you can outsource, it’s possible to find experts in practically anything these days to help your business. Or likewise, even home chores so that you can spend more time actually running your business. Plus spending quality time with the family.
Did you know?💡: Statista reported outsourcing generated $92.5 billion for the global economy in 2019. 💰📈
Why Outsource?
There are two T’s which form the basis behind any decision to outsource – time & talent. Namely, when you lack either.
Time – The more any business grows, the less time founders have to complete certain tasks. When these tasks are critical to growth or even your general well-being, they can’t be skipped. The only way around this is to enlist the help of others to give you their time so you can use less of yours. For founders with family commitments especially, time can be incredibly precious.
Talent – Just because you’re a company founder, doesn’t mean you’re an expert in content, web design or any other task. Doing things incorrectly may actually harm your business because you lack certain specialisms. In contrast, outsourcing to an expert can plug any talent gaps in your business to produce a stronger offering.
Top Tasks That Can Be Outsourced
- Accounting
- Bookkeeping
- Content writing
- Design
- Event management
- Photography
- PR
- SEO
- Social media
- Video editing
- Web development
Also, any non-business tasks which are just important to your daily life, such as cleaning as our Twitter poster mentioned at the start.
There may be other tasks specific to your business or industry that aren’t listed above, where outsourcing could also come in handy. So have a think!
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How To Outsource
It’s possible to find people to outsource tasks to through various means, i.e. their professional portfolio, their website or on freelancing platforms. Though this of course will depend on the task that needs to be outsourced.
Unlike hiring a full-time employee, outsourced tasks are usually done on an ad-hoc basis. The company or person remains their own entity as a self-employed professional or agency. This means you enter an agreement about the work that needs to be completed and how they will be paid. The project may be a one-off or ongoing.
Everyone needs to be on the same page when tasks are outsourced. Ideally, a brief should be created so that anyone coming into your company will have a full understanding of anything they just wouldn’t know. For example, your target audience, ethos, best selling products, your services etc.
Plus, you need to state what you actually want to get out of the outsourcing process as a business owner. Clear communication from the start is how to avoid issues with outsourcing.
Advantages Of Outsourcing
- You will free up time normally spent on that task, thus giving you more time to spend on where your attention is needed most.
- Potential to add a lot of value to your business, especially if that task is now being completed by an expert.
- When outsourcing is done well, all that stress and worry melts away – at least related to that particular task.
- More time gives you the chance to scale your business elsewhere, or even start new businesses following the same successful format.
- There are endless tasks in the office or home you can outsource!
Disadvantages Of Outsourcing
- As with the hiring process in general, you need to ensure whoever you outsource tasks to is a good fit for your business.
- If the role isn’t full-time or permanent, the professional is free to move onto other projects. This could mean the task is fulfilled by different people over time, which may impact the quality of the results.
- Anyone exposed to sensitive data about your business or clients (where applicable) will need to sign an NDA. They will also need to be carefully vetted.
Key Takeaways: Adding Value To Your Business With Outsourcing
You don’t need us to tell you what a finite resource time is. So the key with outsourcing really is to use it to address critical drains on your time and energy. Plus, where you lack the ability to do that task to the required standard.
Even with outsourcing tasks in the home (i.e. cleaning), you may think this is separate to your business. But it’s really not! After all, if these tasks aren’t done, they will inevitably take time out of your day.
Also, having a clean and orderly home has actually been shown to improve sleep and even productivity. So the connection with your business is stronger than you think.
Ultimately, outsourcing is about improving focus and efficiency for your business. It should give you props to scale up what you do with less effort.
Outsourcing can make a wealth of difference to you, your team and even your customers.
How Can GoSquared Help Make Running My Business Even Easier?
While we can’t pick up that mop for you, we can offer up our two decades in business to help your business.
In short, we have three key products that help you market your business, plus understand your customers better.
If you own a website or do any form of email marketing or customer engagement, here’s what we have for you:
EcoSend
Our new climate-conscious email marketing tool. This is perfect for business owners who use email marketing and customer engagement tools.
Most importantly, businesses looking to reduce their carbon emissions and prove their sustainability efforts to their customers.
EcoSend systems run on renewable energy and we’ll plant trees on behalf of your business just for using us.
Start my free trial of EcoSend
Engage
The original GoSquared core product for all things customer engagement.
Build personalised messaging sequences across email and in-app messaging. Real-time reporting and endless other tips and tricks to help you create successful marketing campaigns.
Web Analytics
Build a complete picture of who is using your website. Understand which pages are performing well and why.
Seize the chance to build a complete dataset, and fix any underperforming areas of your website. GDPR-friendly for maximum privacy. Plus ultra-lightweight so your site won’t slow down.
Start my free trial of GoSquared Web Analytics
Need Any More Help Marketing Your Business Or Analysing Your Website Traffic?
If you’re reading this and you don’t know where to start with email marketing or web analytics, don’t be shy!
Just like you, we’re in the market of building businesses and well, making all things business growth happen. When you understand your customers, you can build better products, and provide better services to achieve success. So let us help you with that.
To talk through our products, or even get a personalised demo reach out to us at any time. You can also connect with on Twitter.
We look forward to hearing more about your business and showing you how our tools can help achieve your goals.
