In order to be successful, you have to master the art of delegation. No one makes it to the top alone because success is the result of a team effort. Again, I am not trying to talk anyone out of attempting to tackle difficult tasks, but you have to know your limitations. The faster you recognize your capabilities the closer you are to achieving success. Why did you go into business? You need to consider outsourcing the following tasks if these were not mentioned in your answer:Research: If you are like most small business owners you went into business because you wanted to follow your gut instinct. There is nothing wrong with wanting to follow your passion, but your gut instinct can only carry you so far! You can have the greatest idea in the world but if you don’t have the facts and figures to support it, you will not be able to persuade others to invest or purchase your product or service. This is why research is so important. You can’t be successful without determining needs that are not being met in the marketplace, knowing your competitors, etc. There are two types of research: Everyday Research and Market Research.* Everyday Research: This is what I consider to be basic research. You are typically using the internet to find the answers to basic information on a subject, company etc. using popular keywords (i.e. marketing).* Market Research: This type of research is a lot more in depth and will enable you to receive information such as demographics, psychographics (aka behavior information), statistical data based upon qualitative and quantitative data about your target market.Why waste time trying to figure it out yourself when you could give it to someone who knows what they are doing?Website Design: You only get once chance to make a first impression. Statistics indicate people form their opinion of a person within the first thirty seconds of meeting them. Therefore, increase your chances of making a memorable introduction with a website that reflects your personality, is welcoming and easy to navigate. I learned this lesson the hard way and am in the process of trying to remedy my mistake. Get someone else to do it and call it a day!Blogging: Blogs are an amazing way to connect with potential customers and clients. If you are not convinced, take a look at this study HubSpot conducted (they are one of my favorite company blogs). Subscribing to the old if you build it they will come mentality is setting yourself up for failure. Producing quality content is the only way to attract and retain readers. The downside of blogs is that they do require a lot of time and effort to maintain (I discuss this in further detail in the interview I did with POV) and if you do not have the ability to devote time to ensuring your blog will pass the quality test—delegate it to someone else.Article marketing: If you are looking for a way to establish yourself as an expert in your industry, you might want to consider article marketing. Articles drive traffic to your website (this applies to blogs too). You are probably wondering,” Shouldn’t I be the one writing the articles?” The answer to that question is yes and no. If you have time you can and should write the articles. However, when you go to submit your articles to various directories, you need to alter them so you have different variations of them floating around online. Do you have time do this for every article you write? If not, then you should consider getting assistance with altering the article(s) or avoid this situation altogether and hire a ghostwriter.Social Networking: This is one of the most cost effective forms of marketing. The only currency required comes in the form of conversation. You must be willing to communicate on the turf of your target market. There are numerous sites such as Twitter, Facebook, etc. and industry forums (i.e Virtual Assistant Forums). Social networking is ideal because it will increase your brand recognition. Having profiles on numerous sites can increase your organization’s exposure.Now if you are tempted to start signing up for various social networking sites and forums—stop! Quality will always trump quantity when it comes to social networking. It is better to be on one social networking site and actively engaging with others than to have profiles on several and not participate in the community. You can connect faster if you have help.Email Marketing: If you truly want to reinforce your message you should be conducting email marketing campaigns (it should go without saying that you better have the owner’s permission). It is extremely effective because it enables you to personally deliver your message to your prospects and customers. Sending an email is not difficult but getting someone to feel like they have to read your email is another story. People are inundated with emails. What are you doing to make sure that your email stands out from the crowd? Are your subject lines catchy? Is your template design pleasing to the eye? What value will this person receive from your email? If you cannot write copy that will catch the attention of others, chances are no one will feel compelled to read your email.Presentation preparation: You would be hard pressed to find someone who has not sat through a boring presentation. If you do not want to put people to sleep with your PowerPoint Presentation, hand it someone who will ensure that it will be concise and creative.Online Videos: People love putting a face to a name. Allow your customers the opportunity to learn more about you by creating a video. Share information that will be of value to your customers. People buy from those they trust so create a video that reflects your company’s culture. A video can be a powerful marketing tool. I urge you to think twice about attempting to do this yourself because you really don’t want your company video to be one of the videos people laugh at—especially if it’s not meant to be funny.Phone/Email Support: Who doesn’t want every email or phone call to be prospect ready to conduct business with you? However, not every call or email is going to be a client or prospect or even need to be answered right away. Why waste time sifting through phone calls and emails when you could be out closing deals?Bookkeeping/Accounting: This should be one of the most obvious tasks to outsource. You need to make sure that your records are in order. This can be hard for a business owner to do because your busy trying to run your business. In addition, there are a lot of credits available to small business owners that would be missed by someone who is not familiar with tax laws. So if you want to take advantage of all the credits available to you, maintaining good records will keep the IRS off your case.You may feel like you have to carry the burden of the aforementioned tasks alone, but this does not have to be the case. There are a variety of options small business owners can take advantage of in order to fulfill these tasks such as hiring a Virtual Assistant, bartering, etc. If the task is something you foresee yourself encountering on a daily basis, you might want to consider taking a workshop or webinar on the subject.However, if you choose to take a class, remember to weigh the opportunity cost of doing so. The time you take in learning a task totally unrelated to your business decreases your ability to start or expand your company. Unless your business involves providing the aforementioned tasks, you are unnecessarily taking on responsibilities that can easily be eliminated via outsourcing. Outsourcing will enable you to focus on the real reasons you went into business.If you enjoy this blog post, consider signing up for our newsletter!
Comments
You are so right! I'm one of those people that loves a challenge but at some point you have to let go in order to expand. Thanks for your comment!
Kind regards,
LaTosha
it is so important that we outsource :-)
Cheers,
Charlotte