You've researched your idea and you're ready to ramp up being in business for yourself. You'll run a lean machine, and know you need a bit of help. Here are outsourced services examples so you can launch your company on solid footing...
Could outsourced services save your small business time and money?
When it comes to a new business, you may start out wearing many hats. However, you’re not always going to be able to handle things alone.
As much as bootstrapping your business in the beginning could very much be a necessity, over time you will find that you are stretched thin. Where do you turn first?
It’s not always that obvious what help you need and who can assist. So in this article, we’re going to show you the five outsourced services partnerships startups should make.
1. Financial Experts
To begin with, every business owner needs top notch financial experts by their side. You may not always need to have a full suite of consultants. But as a minimum, find a good accountant right off the bat. They know the updated tax requirements, while you probably cannot keep up with those details.
A good tax accountant will save you time and money in the long term. A bookkeeper and financial advisor may serve you well as your business evolves.
2. Marketing Experts
Marketing efforts are necessary if you want to reach your ideal target markets. It is optimal to designate a budget for marketing support from the planning stage.
Before you launch, you could do your own marketing. However, with all that is entailed in promoting your business:
- Social media
- Digital advertising
- SEO
- News articles
- Graphic content creation
- Traditional marketing - billboards, radio, print ads
- Person-to-person networking
There is a lot to do. You will get optimal results by hiring a marketing agency with a good reputation.
As your startup grows, you might need additional help and expertise that comes with an in-house marketing team or consultant. Easy to accomplish by hiring contractors that might be hired-on permanently later.
With this method, you can focus on growing your business and make maximum impact in the early phases.
3. Outsourced Services: Partner With Specialist Suppliers
Of course you want solid suppliers for your company. You won’t want to cut corners here because quality matters.
If you need reliable safety valves, you want them to do the job they are intended to do, not bring you problems. Or if you need a high-quality ingredient for a food product, you won’t want to substitute that for something that will negatively affect the composition of your culinary masterpiece.
Finding reliable and quality relationships here is key.
4. Virtual Assistants: For Executives And Upper-Level Managers
When first starting out on their own, many small business owners try to handle a lot of the workload solo. But you’ll find that as your business grows, you will have less time.
This is where hiring a virtual assistant (or VA) is wise. You get the luxury of efficient help without hiring a team member full-time. They’ll often take a load off your plate and tackle:
- Administrative duties
- Phone calls
- Data entry
- Customer service
- Social media tasks
And more.
You may even find that this is the first hire you make.
5. Operations Support
It could be the case that you really need some quality support with your operations. As your business gets busier, you want the backend to stay on-track. You will need to know how things are going in order to progress to next levels.
It is not always possible do all of that yourself. Here, you could hire a Project Manager or Operations Specialist to support you through your growth.
