Have you heard the saving “You should outsource everything that you hate doing”? Let’s talk about why that’s not always true. We’ll also cover the cases when you shouldn’t outsource.
Yes, I know that sounds a bit contradictory when I told you that you can’t afford to not have help in your business, but let me explain.
Please No “Winging It”
It seems that everyone is talking about outsourcing these days, but that doesn’t mean that you should jump on the outsourcing bandwagon just for the sake of saying that you have assistants. You might wing it on your business plan, but you should always have a plan for working with people.
When you start considering outsourcing in your business, just as with anything else you do, you can’t just wing it. You must have a plan of action and outsource for effectiveness.
Money Pit
For instance, if there is something in your business that isn’t making you money and you give it to an assistant to complete knowing that there are no real benefits to doing it, then maybe it’s not the right thing to be outsourcing.
Instead, evaluate your business. Maybe that particular task or project needs to be canned altogether. If so, don’t outsource it just to keep from doing it — hoping that someday it will make money for you. Several years ago, I had a course rewritten by an assistant. It cost me like $150 and I have to be honest, I never even opened the files to look at her work. It’s sat on my hard drive for years.
BUT Don’t Lose Money!
On the flipside of that, if you’ve got a money-maker on your hands but don’t have the time to devote to it for it to make the money, definitely get some help with it. There’s nothing worse than sitting idle on a money-machine that you can’t make money with due to inactivity.
If your assistant is coming to you asking for work, again think about what you give them. If you are stuck, ask your assistant if you can brainstorm with them for 15 minutes or so to see what items have the highest missed priority. An outside view is usually helpful.
How can you plan what you need help with the most to get the most out of your dollar?
Photo Credit: Flickr User R/DV/RS
