Signs you need to start outsourcing

If you are finding yourself feeling overwhelmed in your small business and you have so many tasks, you’re juggling a lot of plates and you just think that you could be spending too much time on non-income generating tasks. Then it’s time to start to think about outsourcing those business tasks because it is necessary in order to scale your business.

Getting someone else in to help can be so beneficial and can actually really help you to scale. Personally, for me, it is a must and a fabulous way to offload work, outsourcing some of those tasks at home, such as getting a delivery of groceries. 

Start by outsourcing some of those menial tasks

It could be bookkeeping, it could be managing your inbox, start by identifying what you don’t need to focus on too much in terms of what’s going to take off and give you some of that stress relief when you’re feeling like you are wearing just way too many hats.

When you’re spending a lot of time on tasks that you really don’t enjoy

Like me, I’m not really a lover of bookkeeping, so that is something that I always outsource.

I also outsource a lot of my marketing activities to a virtual assistant who I’ve actually never met in person. I have her prepare my newsletter, my blog, and my social media content. She does all sorts of creative documents and helps support my clients with their marketing assets. 

If you are feeling overwhelmed

You might not be able to provide the level of customer service that you are aspiring to in your small business. Customer service is so vital to business success, especially now and I think customers expect to be able to get in touch with someone and get answers right away. 

There is a number of software programs that can help minimize with some automation that works really well for you to be able to outsource those tasks, whether it be a 24-hour chat or an online service on your website where someone has a live chatbot that they can actually speak with. It’s worth looking at that if you have a lot of customer service inquiries or you’re handling returns or if there are any matters regarding shipping, they’re all questions that can frequently be automated and answered really quickly if you’re outsourcing that to a team.

If it’s not a skill set of yours, it is definitely worth having someone designated to help you manage that side of the business whether it be your inbox management, taking customer emails, or providing customer service. You want to maintain that high level of response time in your business to keep people happy. 

Programs to use while outsourcing

In terms of automation and services, as I mentioned earlier, there are lots of ways that you can do that. I frequently use a couple of great software platforms to work with my team. I have a team of five and they’re all freelancers. 

One greatest communication platform is an app called Slack. Slack is a really quick messenger, you can voice message, and you can create groups and teams. It’s definitely something that I love and I use it frequently to communicate quickly with my team. 

The other app that I use with my clients and my team is Voxer. It is a voice-to-voice messenger app, a little similar to WhatsApp. You can share documents, you can upload photos. Clients use it with me every day of the week.

I also love using Trello. It is ideal for teams because you can invite people to share a board and the board is basically like a whiteboard that you have ongoing work with, you can set timeline dates of when you require tasks to be completed and you can invite teams or you can work individually. 

Identify if there are areas that you are not as skilled in and if that is taking you up more time with the task that you don’t enjoy. They’re the first ones that you want to specifically start to offload and look at outsourcing the work to maybe hiring a freelancer or a virtual assistant to help you get that work done.

You might be forgetting to do a certain tasks

The signs are becoming really evident that you need to start outsourcing because you are feeling so overwhelmed by answering emails, confirming appointments, and updating your website. That all sounds really small but when it all adds up on your to-do list and they can easily be forgotten.

If you are feeling that some things are slipping through the cracks because you are feeling stressed and busy and if you are like me, you are raising children, building a business. There are a lot of hats that you’re wearing.

If you find yourself forgetting about these things on a regular basis, you really may need someone to help you out and ensure that those tasks in your business day-to-day get done and finally get a work-life balance. 

If it needs to be reset, you don’t want to be working so much that you’re missing out on special family time on weekends, family dinners, or other events that you wish you could attend but once you start outsourcing the work even just a few hours a week to start with, you’ll have more time than what you had before. Work is essential but it shouldn’t be something that completely takes over your life, though. 

It’s time to pull up your big girl pants!

Do you want to Take the Leap from Side Hustle to Successful Small Business? I can help.

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