Did you start your business with the thought of being your own boss and having full control over your work? But off late, you have discovered that your work load is much more that what you expected and no matter how packed your schedule is, you still have unfinished work. Non-core, yet important tasks like accounting and administrative functions are becoming overwhelming and taking your focus from your business. The only way out of such a tight spot is to outsource a few of your work functions.
If you are new to the concept of outsourcing, you may be wondering about what is outsourcing and what can be outsourced. Outsourcing is nothing but the contracting of various business functions to another company or an independent freelancer who has specialized skills. Outsourcing can be cost-effective and help you get your work completed within a short timeline. The primary purpose of outsourcing is to focus on business growth and providing services, while someone else takes care of your mundane, repetitive tasks.
Almost every business, no matter the size has a few functions that are easier to outsource, than to manage in-house. Here are a few business functions that you can think about outsourcing:
- Advertising & marketing: Get professionals to help you out with writing persuasive copy and creative ad campaigns. If you have a website, you can get a vendor to optimize your site for search engines.
- Business plans: There are skilled business plan specialists who can develop a professional business plan, along with the content and presentation.
- Accounting & Bookkeeping: Accounting work like taxes, balancing sheets or long calculations of your finances can get tiresome. Outsourcing this to professional bookkeepers can be affordable and less tiresome.
- Graphic design: An experienced graphic designer can give your business a unique and dignified look with a creatively designed logo, website or business cards.
- Customer support and help desk: If your business is providing customers with technical products, you can think about handing over the pressure of your help desk or customer support division to an outsourcing company.
- IT support: As a business owner, you may have no clue about how to set up a wireless router, network your office/home or add a DVD drive. Here is where an IT professional can help out.
- Legal services: Reading through long contracts or figuring out legal terminologies can be time-consuming. If you ever feel yourself running out of time, remember that you can always opt to outsource your legal services.
- Public relations (PR): A public relations expert can help you find speaking engagements, organize press events or add videos on YouTube.
- Virtual assistants: A virtual assistant can help you with all your administrative tasks, such as managing your email, paying bills, sending out communications or even handling your appointment schedules.
- Website development: If you know nothing about how to run a website, you can outsource website services like registering for a domain name, finding a host, designing a site, maintaining your website or even the troubleshooting of technical issues.
Now since you know which functions can be outsourced, which of the above will be the first function that you will outsource?
jacobwilliam
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