4 Tasks That Your Business Should Outsource

With every period of business growth, there is more to do. Often a growth spurt can take a business owner by surprise and leave them with too much to do, and not enough time to do it.

Existing personnel are expected to take on tasks and responsibilities outside their comfort zone, and maybe you too need to upskill in areas you’ve got little hands-on experience, just to get the job done. What a recipe for ‘mountains of stress’!

Almost half of all entrepreneurs are taking too much on, and Gallup Wellbeing Index says it the women who are reporting their stress more than men. Hence, it’s hard to say which gender is better at delegation.

While there’s no single solution, mainly if the growth spurt is unpredictable, outsourcing tasks to third parties can lessen the strain on management. You may not need to use third party providers and being locked into lengthy service contracts instead look at a more flexible workforce.

Delegating appropriate tasks to freelancers or external teams allows you to focus on doing what you do best – and what makes you happy. This is leadership.

Managing everything in-house is unrealistic for most businesses today. However, some tasks require your special touch. It’s those that are too tedious, complicated or expensive that you’ll benefit from outsourcing. Here are four such functions.

Marketing

There are several reasons to outsource marketing. Working with the right agency can give you a fresh perspective that’s backed up by professional insight. It will also be easier to scale up your efforts, not to mention lower overhead expenses.

Moreover, you can gain access to the latest technologies to improve efficiency and achieve more significant results, and this is especially valuable for smaller businesses that aren’t familiar with current digital trends in marketing. You can gain a significant competitive advantage by implementing a digital strategy that’s developed by experts.

Admin

In a whitepaper by Harris Poll, staff spend an average of 40% of their day handling administrative tasks. Most of it involves repetitive, menial activities that can be done by someone else for a fraction of the price. This includes data entry, document management, travel arrangements, inbox organization and proofreading.

Thanks to websites like Upwork, Fiverr and Guru, you can easily find a freelancer to do these things for you. The key is to pick someone who you can rely on to do the job right. This guide details where to start in the selection process.

Legal

As you may be aware, in-house lawyers aren’t cheap. But if you want the peace of mind that comes with knowing your business is compliant with all relevant rules and regulations, you need to have access to legal expertise. This can spare you the (much higher) cost of running into a lawsuit or another unforeseen legal issue.

These days, you can access legal services through online marketplaces like Avvo and UpCounsel, while Rocket Lawyer and LegalZoom provide legal documentation

Human Resources

Every new employee increases your human resource responsibilities exponentially, so it’s a good idea to consider hiring outside help. Plus, several risks come with being unable to keep up with the demands of human resources, such as failing to make payments and file documents on time, not to mention hiring the wrong employees.

Outsourcing to a provider can ease the load and reduce your risk. Depending on your circumstances, you might not need to ship off everything. For example, a payroll company can process compensation while you handle the rest.

Conclusion

Businesses need to be more nimble to survive recessions and staff up when business demands it. Also, make sure you’re not overloading yourself with mundane jobs. Think carefully about the tasks that take up most of your time and outsource some jobs.