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In a large company, one person does not run everything by themself. It would be ridiculous to even think so. Someone does the filing and administrative tasks, another person handles travel, marketers handle advertising, salespeople make sales, accountants keep the financial books, etc.
So why should a small business owner attempt to complete everything by themself? Granted you may be able to get away with this in the initial stages of growing your business, but there will come a time when you really NEED to outsource some tasks. Trying to do it all is not only overwhelming, but it keeps you from performing the real revenue generating tasks and projects you are really passionate about.
Here are just a few compelling reasons why business owners should seriously consider outsourcing:
- Obviously, you can’t learn everything. No matter how smart you are, you simply can’t. Even if you could, learning takes time and there are only a set number of hours in a day. You are going to end up disappointed and frustrated if you try to learn everything that needs to be done in your business.
- You have a life outside of your business. Everyone needs time to spend with family and friends, even if they’re running a business. If we try to tackle everything ourselves, we won’t have time to enjoy the finer things in life. I know I started my business so that I would have more time to spend with my kids. Before I outsourced, I rarely enjoyed time with my children. One day my son told me that he saw more of me before I started working at home. Ouch! That statement really hurt because my previous job was as a flight attendant and I was often gone for days at a time.
- The stress of trying to do it all can adversely affect your health. Everyday life can be stressful enough that we don’t need to add to it by unnecessarily working too much and getting frustrated performing tasks we really aren’t capable of doing properly. If you also have a family or other obligations outside of work, it will really help to balance your work and personal life by outsourcing. Besides affecting our state of mind, too much stress can cause high blood pressure and put us at risk for many other ailments. You definitely don’t want that – if you were to get seriously ill, then who would look after your business and/or family?
- A person who is well trained in a specialized area should be able to do a better job. For example, I can create my own graphics and occasionally do, but I am much better off hiring a graphics designer with an eye for design and artistic skills. If you barely know HTML, it would take you quite a while to learn how to make a good-looking and functional website. An experienced web designer could have your entire website up and running before you were even finished learning what you need to know. In situations like these, it just makes more sense to outsource than to try to do it yourself.
- Believe it or not, outsourcing can save you money. Some tasks require special equipment or software. If you’re not going to need these things in the future, it doesn’t make much sense to buy them for one project. Hiring someone else that already has what is needed to get the job done is usually more economical. Also, if you really mess something up like your website, it’s going to cost you more to get someone else to fix it than if you had just hired them in the first place.
In many cases, outsourcing makes good business sense. You get to concentrate on the things you enjoy and are best at doing. It can save you a lot of time and money. So the next time you feel overwhelmed with an overabundance of work, I hope you will consider outsourcing.
Are you currently outsourcing or have any questions/advice about doing so? If so, please be sure to leave a comment.
