What is Outsourcing in Business Terms?

Outsourcing is a business practice in which a company hires another company or an individual to perform tasks, handle operations or provide services that are either usually executed or had previously been done by the company’s own employees.

Outsourcing started in the early 2000’s and was quickly hailed as the ultimate way to do business. But even though it’s popular, they often still struggle to take the next step and actually outsource!

What You Must Overcome

Learning to let go and delegate

To some business owners, letting go of micro managing their Company is difficult, the initial difficulty they face is learning to trust someone else. When they’ve got this far in their business by doing everything alone, so it’s understandable that they may feel apprehensive about letting go a bit. If they’re used to controlling everything, it can be really difficult learning to let go. The guilt can play a part too, of leaving their “baby” (their business) in someone else’s care.

It’s also natural to feel guilty and nervous about bringing in extra support, it can be a real leap of faith to sharing ideas and plans with another person – let alone trusting them to work on those things that you worked hard to build all these years. And there’s the dilemma of working with them from ten thousand miles away is another scary thought!

Lack of understanding on how Outsourcing works for their business

There’s the initial lack of understanding over how the whole concept of hiring a VA works. There’s also issues they may face over culture, language and time zone. Then there’s the uncertainty over a VA’s qualifications and skill set, along with what can and can’t be outsourced – not to mention whether the VA can actually do what the business owner is hoping they can do…

The delegated tasks will not be done well and completed on time

They are afraid that the help are they looking for, in terms of skills, needs and timescales will not be met by the VA thus having the risk of hampering their operations further.

What’s in it for YOU?

Getting past the fear of outsourcing is the first step towards making your business as efficient and cost effective as it can be. Remember, it’s all outsourcing unless you do it yourself, and doing it ALL yourself isn’t an option in this fast-moving business world. You should also realize that a vast majority of successful people, both online and off, use outsourcing as a fundamental part of their business strategy.

Outsourcing can be accomplished effectively if you find the right people for the job. In order to get past your fear of outsourcing, you have to understand how outsourcing and working with a VA works for you.

• Get clear on why you need to start ou Focus on what you’re gaining, both as an individual and as a business. What things aren’t your strengths and what do you struggle with? What is sapping your time and energy? These are the things they can outsource to a VA.

Jot down every single task that you do yourself, or that you have an in-house employee do. How much time does it take to perform these tasks? How much would it cost to outsource? When weighing the time, it would take to the amount it would cost, remember that your time is far more valuable than money.

• Understand how this is going to help you grow and move forward. Look over your business and discover which tasks would be better performed by someone else. Product or service development, sales, lead generation, business consultancy, legal advice, IT support, HR management, scheduling meetings, graphic and web design, managing social media accounts, and much more can be done by someone else with a particular set of skills.
• Identify a clear and well-defined goals or tasks that you expect from your VA. Set timelines and manage both your expectations from your VA and her expectations from you. Share your Company’s mission and vision as well as your Company’s culture. By letting your VA know how your Company works, it will lessen the guess work and help you by leaps and bounds to get more productive results from your VA. This can make you and your team more efficient, help you save time on a daily basis, and lower your costs.
• Be in the know. Be always on the loop what the VA is up to. Are you scheduling a meeting with a key supplier? Make sure to be cc’d on the email so that you will know that the task was actually done. This can build up your confidence on your VA while already freeing your time to do more important things for your business. Always ask for a report at the end of the day what tasks were already done and what other things are pending for the week. Google Docs should be perfect for this purpose. This gives you a sense of control while also reassuring you that things are done right on schedule.

 “Your time is worth something. If you truly hate a certain task—whether it be grocery shopping, cleaning, or anything else—why not outsource the task so you can spend those hours with your family, or working on a personal project? It’s a case where money can actually buy you happiness and reclaim one of life’s most limited resources: your time.”– Whitson Gordon, editor in chief of Lifehacker.com

Stressed out and dazed? Is your business suffering because of lack of time and focus? Are you looking to gauge what you do now to a greater level? Then, I recommend you try outsourcing!

If you have any questions about outsourcing, please ask them below!

Are you ready to hire you very first VA? The VA Hub will be happy to match you with the perfect one.

Contributor: Catherine Mananquil

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