Why You Should Be Outsourcing

Small business owners tend to do it all–managing staff, meeting with clients, casting vision for the company, and doing the hands-on creative work. When your company is your baby, it can be hard to let go of that control, but here are some reasons why you really should be outsourcing.

You Can’t Do It All Well

As entrepreneurs, we tend to be really precious about our work, and we want to be involved in every aspect. But the reality is, you can’t do it all. At least, you can’t do it all well. Either some area of the work will be sub-par, or you’ll manage everything brilliantly, but your work/life balance will suffer. 

There’s a reason why there aren’t any one-man symphonies. Even if one person could play all of the instruments expertly, they couldn’t play them all at the same time. The same is true for your business. 

In trying to manage everything alone, many business owners do themselves a disservice. They stretch themselves too thin, ultimately to the detriment of their business. Outsourcing is an incredibly practical solution to the problem of how to do it all.

Play to Your Strengths

If you’ve started or purchased your own business, it’s probably because you found something you are passionate about and good at. Congratulations! It takes some of us a lifetime to figure out what we want to be when we grow up. You are officially ahead of the curve.

You may have heard of CliftonStrengths (formerly Strengths Finder). This popular program is designed to maximize efficiency by helping people identify their core strengths. Their philosophy is that once you know what your strengths are, you should focus on cultivating those things instead of expending your energy trying to work on the areas where you’re weak.

Since you already know what you’re good at, you need to put a lot of time and energy into honing your craft. If you’re a doctor that means continuing to educate yourself on new research and best practices, and working tirelessly to achieve the best outcomes for your patients. If you’re a carpenter, you’ll spend a lot of time working with wood, trying out different tools, learning new techniques, and practicing.

When it comes to the rest, accept the things you don’t know or aren’t good at and outsource them to people who are good at them. If you’re not good at keeping track of expenses or managing a budget, hire a bookkeeper. If you don’t know how to build and manage a website, outsource to a web design expert (cough* cough* DenWeb). 

Value Your Time

Time is a finite resource. We only get so much of it in a day/week/lifetime. Nobody likes having their time wasted. But how can you expect other people to value your time if you don’t show the same respect to yourself? Outsourcing is a way to show that you value your own time.

We know from economics that scarcity increases value. The more you understand the value of your own time, the more comfortable you’ll feel deciding what you want to devote yourself to.

Productivity isn’t just about working harder. It’s about working smarter. Part of working smarter is making thoughtful decisions about where to spend your time. Once you’ve figured out where you want to concentrate your best effort and energy, start outsourcing the rest. It might take some time to let go of the need to control everything, but ultimately, it will leave you with more time to do what actually matters to you.