Are you a business owner with an online component to your company? Hoping for more time with family or to travel? Outsourcing your online business means you could do those things while everything still gets done. This article goes through four smart steps to get there...
Outsourcing Your Online Business (So You Have More Time)
If you run an online business, you are in an excellent position to spend less time working and more time:
- Traveling
- Earning new credentials
- Spending time with family
And generally enjoying life while still making money. Why?
Because online businesses are ripe for outsourcing. There are some that believe that the more you can intelligently outsource, the less you will have to do yourself to keep your business going. Sound good?
Here’s how to start outsourcing your online business right now.
Decide What To Delegate
Hopefully you have an online business task list that will let you overview everything that must be done. The first step to outsourcing your online business is working out which aspects of your company you should and do not need to handle yourself.
Ideally, the tasks you keep should be the ones you enjoy and the ones that need your signature aptitude. Everything else, from IT to accounting can be handled by a third party for less cost than you might think.
Find The Right People
Once you know which business tasks you do want to outsource, it’s time to find the right professionals for the job. It’s often easier to find a good outsourced IT provider or accountant than it is to find reliable creatives like writers and photographers. They are often off on adventures of their own and because reviews of creative work can be so much more subjective. But it can be done with a little persistence.
You might also consider:
- E-commerce outsourcing companies
- Outsourced digital marketing
- Savvy social media marketing team
There are benefits of outsourcing digital marketing like time, expertise, and ever changing trends you would not exhaust yourself to keep up on.
If you wish to start slow, check out the top freelancer sites like Upwork and Problogger. Identify candidates who may look suitable and research examples of their work. Check their portfolio thoroughly, and if you think they’d be a good fit, reach out to them. Ask them questions about:
- Their work experiences
- Their availability
- How they feel about your type of business
The ideal candidate would be someone who has a good level of English (assuming your business is based in an English-speaking company) and who has experience in your niche.
Test Them Out
When you think you’ve found the right professional to outsource specific tasks, give them a test project to work on. This could be:
- Asking them to write a couple of articles for your website
- Requesting that they spend a month working on your social media accounts
- Having them organize a short-term marketing campaign
You’ll need to pay them for their time. However, this will help you better understand their ability to do the job for a longer period of time and get a read on their reliability levels. If they do well, the next step would be to make a more formal arrangement.
Make Your Online Business Team Official
Once you've absolutely decided you have the right people, it’s time to draw up a contract. It should clearly outline what you expect from them and your terms of doing business with the freelancers.
Ideally, you should also have a privacy clause so they can’t sell your business secrets on to any of your competitors. You may or may not want to stipulate a minimum number of working hours depending on the type of work they will be doing for you.
Like any other legal documents, have your legal advisor review your contracts before extending them to potential contractors.
Does Outsourcing Your Online Business Mean You Can Hit The Beach?
It is possible to outsource a good amount of the workload. The key in that case will be excellent monitoring and management of staff needed for an online business.
Now that you're outsourcing your online business, you might feel it’s time to hit the beach and have some fun. As they say, all in good moderation. :)
