I’ll wager that the biggest obstacle Freelancers and small business owners face is limited time. There are so many responsibilities you must manage in order to keep the show on the road. Now look at the bright side—if you’ve got lots to do, it means that your business is growing and has the potential to grow even more. Your stumbling block is, most likely, that you have a small team (maybe just yourself) and you struggle to get your arms around a list of important decisions to make and other responsibilities that demand your attention. You may also have deadlines looming`.

You always assumed, but the point has now been emphatically made, that productivity is a key ingredient in the recipe for success. It’s imperative that you have the focus and ingenuity to develop goals and objectives that will promote your mission and then create and execute strategies and action plans that bring your plans to life. If you’re overwhelmed and stressed by an unmanageable to-do list, you’ll be unable to perform at peak efficiency. Circumstances will force you to make a change because at some point, every business owner must address the challenge of how to get the work done— on time, on budget and in ways that deliver a rewarding customer experience.

Spoiler alert—all potential solutions, including the choice of keeping the status quo (and eroding both the success you’ve created and your health), require that you spend money. The good new is, if you’ve objectively assessed your situation and determined how to efficiently handle your responsibilities, you will be positioned to increase productivity and business revenue.

Weighing your options

The process begins by confirming the tasks that must get done, acknowledging if anyone other than yourself can be reasonably expected to successfully perform certain tasks and documenting the number of days in a typical week you face a backlog of work. If you frequently work more than 50 hours per week, that indicates you’d benefit from bringing in help. If you frequently work more than 60 hours per week, that indicates you’d benefit from a full-time or part-time employee (W-2 tax form). If your need of assistance is more intermittent, for example, during the last week of the month or one or two afternoons a week, outsourcing (1099NEC tax form) is your best solution.

Make an honest assessment of your time, abilities, preferences and money. Furthermore, once you’ve decided which tasks are unsuitable for you, own the tasks that can be most effectively done by you. For example, it will likely be for the best that anytime the face of your brand must be represented, you, business owner, should be present. However, a number of office-based functions can be effectively handled by a savvy outsourced professional. An outsourced marketing expert will be able to suggest goals, objectives and strategies to jump-start growth in ways that the business owner may not immediately envision. A bookkeeper who has experience working with small or mid-size companies will not only bring the entity’s accounts up to a high standard of detail and accuracy but can also advise on issues such as cash-flow problems.

Accept that it may be too expensive for you to perform certain tasks if it diminishes your pursuit of billable hours. In general, if a certain task takes you or your team too long to do, it probably makes sense to outsource the function, especially if it’s something that must be done on a regular basis. Furthermore, if a task is highly specialized, it may make sense to outsource it to someone who spends their time immersed in that particular function and has a real expertise.

Consider outsourcing functions when:

• You don’t have the ability to adequately perform the task
• You have the ability to do the work, but dislike doing it
• You have the ability to do the task, but the time needed to get it done is unacceptable (maybe because it’s specialized and you and your team lack the expertise)
• You’ve realized how much billable time you’re losing by performing tasks that you could pay someone else to do (for less than your own billable rate).

Enable outsourcing success

Establish goals and define expectations for this new role in your organization, so that you can create a good experience for yourself, your team and the specialist(s) you bring in to provide outsourced services. It will be very useful to include in your productivity improvement journey an outsourced Human Relations professional who specializes in job analysis. This individual will discuss and confirm your recommendations of tasks that might be successfully outsourced and responsibilities that will be best handled by you, or current staff. Your outsourced HR adviser can also develop job specs, review and discuss your performance objectives and suggest the compensation you should offer to whom you’d like to hire.

Benefits of outsourced talent:

• Cost: When you outsource certain tasks or services, you don’t have to pay the same wages as you would if you hired an in-house employee. Hiring outsourced talent is a way to manage fixed operating expenses as you nurture business growth. Furthermore, outsourced talent does not come with costs associated with in-house employees, such as taxes, insurance, holiday and vacation pay and other workplace expenses.
• Efficiency: By outsourcing, you can free-up yourself and your team to focus on more important aspects of your business. This allows you to be more productive and get more done in less time.
• Talent: Outsourcing is an attractive option when you need specialized skills or expertise only on an intermittent or short-term basis. Outsourcing gives you on-demand access to talent that would be impractical to permanently hire.
• Scalability: If you have access to a larger pool of talent and resources, your business can scale up quickly without incurring the expenses associated with hiring W-2 employees or configuring additional office space, or even additional equipment rental fees. Chances are, your outsourced experts work remotely.

How to choose the right provider

When looking for the right expert to handle those functions you’ve decided to outsource, consider the provider’s specific industry experience. Choose providers who have excellent references and communicate well. When outsourcing critical functions or handling sensitive information, data security and confidentiality are of paramount importance. Assess the outsourcing partner’s security protocols, compliance with industry standards and measures to protect intellectual property. Evaluate their data protection policies, employee training, and physical and digital security measures to ensure the safety and integrity of your confidential information. Cultural fit and values alignment between your organization and the outsourced specialist are often overlooked but can significantly impact the success of the working relationship. Consider factors such as work ethics, corporate culture and shared values to ensure a smooth integration and collaboration.

Frequently outsourced functions:

• Accounting and bookkeeping: Outsourcing accounting and bookkeeping services can not only save time, but also ensure that business cash is well-managed. You will be grateful when, for example, cash-flow is efficiently managed and you can make better business decisions. Moreover, you’ll be relieved to know that the business complies with tax regulations.
• Human resources: Outsourced HR services can provide cost-effective solutions should you need to hire additional employees and decide whether the new hires should be brought in as employees or outsourced specialists. Your HR specialist can also create the job specs and refine your organization’s new customer or new hire on-boarding process, to ensure that all paperwork is present and written correctly and see to it that you present a seamless experience that reflects well on your brand.
• Payroll: Outsourcing payroll services will save time and money by eliminating the need to close books or run reports after every payroll cycle. Regarding new hires and contractors, your outsourced payroll expert will ensure that all tax forms are sent in the on-boarding materials and that information to guarantee timely payment is included and signed by both parties.
• Information technology: Outsourcing IT services can be beneficial for small businesses that need access to technical expertise without the overhead costs associated with hiring in-house IT staff. You must have a network that consistently delivers peak efficiency. Seamless and reliable IT performance is a necessity.
• Customer support: Outsourcing customer support services can help your organization provide better customer service without having to hire additional staff or invest in expensive technology solutions that may not deliver the relationship-building personal touch that your organization needs.
• Legal services: Outsourcing legal services can be a cost-effective way for small businesses to gain access to legal expertise without the onerous expense of paying to add the salary of an in-house attorney or law firm to your payroll. Depending on your needs, it may be smart to negotiate a retainer fee, if legal advice is a regular requirement. Otherwise, contact a business, patent, employment, or other attorney on an as-needed basis.
• Marketing: Outsourced marketing services can be beneficial when you need help creating and executing marketing strategies, running campaigns and tracking results. Your outsourced marketing expert will introduce marketing automation to your company, or will optimize the automation system you have in place. This specialist will also maintain your social media accounts and ensure timely responses to comments and questions.
• Web design and development: Outsourcing website design and development services can bring a level of design and technical expertise to your website that you and your team do not possess, even if coding skills are available in-house. Your inbound marketing and marketing automation depend heavily on an attractively, intuitively designed site that downloads quickly and operates efficiently. Your website designer may also provide technical support services that keep your site up and running, as noted above.
• Virtual assistance: Virtual assistants provide administrative support services for tasks that may include scheduling appointments, managing emails, making travel arrangements and more–allowing small business owners to focus on running their business instead of getting bogged down with mundane tasks. Many virtual assistants offer specialist digital and social media marketing services, helping you attract new customers and some offer specialized accounting and bookkeeping services.

Thanks for reading,

Kim

Image: Stephen Root as Milton Waddams in Office Space (1999), directed by Mike Judge