Many small business owners start out doing absolutely everything in their business from answering calls and emails to doing all the work and handling the accounting. What started out as a way to spend more time with their family and be in control of their own destiny has suddenly taken all of their time and is in control of their lives. If this sounds like you, keep reading. I’m here to tell you that running your own small business does not need to be that way and by outsourcing, you can get your life back while increasing your efficiency and your income, all while keeping your costs under control.

“But I can’t afford to hire anyone!”

Yes. You. Can. What you can’t afford is to burn yourself out to the point you end up going back to working for someone else. It’s true that most small companies can’t immediately afford to hire accountants, a marketing team, and a personal assistant but what they can do is outsource those jobs. By doing so, you, as the business owner, will have more time to focus on making money.

Let’s look at an example. Let’s say you’re a plumber and you charge $100 per hour when you’re out doing jobs. Well, if you’re spending the first hour of your day replying to emails and setting up appointments, that’s essentially $100 you’re spending to do that. What if you could outsource that to a virtual assistant for $20 an hour? If you’re out doing a job while they are handling your emails and appointment setting, now you’re MAKING $80 in that hour instead of LOSING $100 just by hiring a virtual assistant.

outsource small business tasks

“Ok, but I can do my marketing and accounting at night when I can’t be working or making calls. Why should I outsource those?”

That’s very true! You could spend your evenings, weekends, and late nights working on posting on social media or trying to reconcile your books but at the end of the day, unless you’re a marketing professional or an accountant/bookkeeper, you’re still costing yourself money and time. You’re missing out on family time or time to enjoy your hobbies which is why you started your business in the first place. You are also likely making costly mistakes that you don’t need to be making. Have you been posting to social media and getting only 3 likes (and 2 are from your family) and no leads? Does your website look dated and your logo like something you found on a stock photo site?

This is where a marketing professional comes into play. They know what needs to be done to increase your web traffic and leads which turns into more clients for you and more money in your pocket. For every dollar you spend on marketing, you should be getting a minimum return of $5 in revenue. That doesn’t sound like a lot but if your current marketing strategy isn’t working or is hit or miss, I’ve seen marketing companies quickly increase traffic by over 500%. Imagine if you were getting 5 times the calls you were now. You’ll definitely need that virtual assistant then!

In regards to accounting, does your accountant cringe every year when you bring in a box of receipts and a few spreadsheets with what you think are all of your business receipts? You may even have it all in a Quickbooks file but from personal experience, I can tell you 9 times out of 10, you’re missing something, things aren’t properly categorized, and because of that, you’re missing out on deductions resulting in paying MORE taxes than you should be. Let’s face it, no one likes paying taxes in the first place much less more than they should have to. A trained bookkeeper or accountant knows where to categorize your expenses and will notice when things are missing or the numbers don’t seem to add up. I’ve seen jobs where income came in but there were no expenses recorded for the parts used. A quick email reminded them that they’d put that purchase on their private card instead of their business one and we were able to record that expense accordingly. On top of day to day transactions, a good financial person should know what tax deductions and benefits you’re eligible for in order to lower your business income even further.

More than a third of small businesses outsource some of their tasks (source), and these are the reasons your small business should, too:

  • Save yourself time that you could use to be getting more jobs done and thus, more money in the door!
  • Save yourself time to spend with your family or out on the golf course (networking of course so your bookkeeper can write it off!). After all, isn’t the freedom to enjoy your life why you started this in the first place?
  • Save yourself money (and frustration).
  • Increase your income.
  • Keep your costs under control by contracting out instead of trying to jump to hire an employee right away.
  • Increase your company’s efficiency.
  • Grow your company and scale up without overstretching your budget or worrying about that you can only afford to hire a marketer or an accountant but not both (even though you know you need both to grow).

If you’re wondering what tasks and processes you should be outsourcing, contact us today for a consultation. We’ll go over the details of your small business, your budget, and how our services can help to put you on the path towards greater success.