By Amanda, Jan 8 2015 01:08PM
At some point in your small business journey, there comes a time when you realise that no matter how hard you try or how many hours you work, you just cannot do everything there is to do, even if you wanted to!
Ask yourself this… Do you really want to work yourself into the ground and burn out just as you’re on the cusp of taking your business to the next level? Well, luckily you don’t have to! You actually have a couple of options available to you.
You could either take on an employee, but I’m sure you know that having an employee on your payroll is a huge decision, with many issues and cost implications to bear in mind. Also, it may not be an option at all if you work from home.
The other, perhaps more sensible option, is to outsource areas of your business to professional independent contractors like Virtual Assistants, Web Companies and Bookkeepers - well that’s what they are there for after all.
Outsourcing to other freelance small businesses, Virtual Assistants for example, has lots of benefits, VA’s will be able to help you with a variety of your business tasks; they are highly skilled and can be used as and when you need them, so you are in control of costs all the time.
When you stop and think about it, there are so many tasks that you do on a daily basis – probably very routine tasks, which take up so much of your valuable time. Maybe there are things you don’t like doing or are not particularly good at, things that end up taking you ages to complete but, ultimately, need to be done. It all takes your precious time away from doing the things that you should be doing, want to do and, more importantly, the work that will help you grow your business and bring in the money.
I would hazard a guess that you didn’t go into business to spend all day sorting receipts, creating invoices or even updating products on a website? All of these tasks (and so many more) can be outsourced. There are lots of areas of your business that can be outsourced. If you find yourself a good, reliable Virtual Assistant, you will be amazed at what a positive effect it can have on your business and even your home life.
Don’t get me wrong, outsourcing can be a very scary prospect, especially when you are so used to doing everything yourself. You have to trust that these people will have your businesses best interests at heart. Will they complete the work at the standard you like and are used to? A good independent contractor or Virtual Assistant will, as long as you do your research and choose wisely and they'll often go above and beyond what‘s required. The work they do on your business reflects their business, so why wouldn’t they do a good job? Their reputation is on the line too!
Of course, there is always a small risk that you will find someone who doesn’t meet with your approval, but without taking that chance; it really will hinder the opportunity to unlock your businesses growth potential.
Is outsourcing really such a big deal?
Think about it, you outsource areas of your life all the time, whether it be getting a cleaner into your home, paying a childminder to care for your children or even using a gardener or window cleaner - it’s all a form of outsourcing.
Trusting someone with the care of your children is a massive decision but people do it all the time, which successfully allows them to go to work and create an income. You are outsourcing areas of your business, which will allow you to free up some of your time to focus on growing your business - it’s not as scary as you think and it really does make good business sense.
If you are worried, start small and build up on the tasks you outsource. I doubt that, once you start outsourcing, you will ever look back. But, if you don’t take that risk and decide to leave things as they are, how will you ever get past the stage your business is currently at and move it forward to the next level? Worse still, you will burn yourself out before you even get there!

