3 Signs It's Time To Consider Outsourcing Pt. 2
Hey everyone! Hope you're all having an awesome weekend so far. If you don't read this post until Monday, I won't be mad. Haha! I know I'll be happily enjoying this coming weekend as I travel to Mexico City. So please, if you're working this weekend. Give yourself a break. You totally deserve it. Maybe I'm talking to myself here as well... Speaking of... I wanted to write a follow up post on this topic because maybe you felt like you were experiencing one (or all) of the signs I spoke about in part 1. Whether you're on the struggle bus, parts of your business are a time suck, or you're simply experiencing burnout, then listen up because I'm about to share with you 3 of the major benefits of outsourcing. Ready?
Saving Time and Money
I think we can all agree that the more our creative businesses grow, the more we realize how important and precious our time truly is. We all want to save money and time right? Well, by outsourcing some of those boring tasks you despise doing, you're able to focus your attention and effort on the things that will actually bring in money for your business. Think about how many work hours we have in a day. That can EASILY be consumed by emails, discovery calls, bookkeeping, pitching to clients, paying bills, writing invoices, marketing your services, social media, and so forth. There is no shortage of tasks when it comes to running a creative business and sometimes there are people out there who are better equipped to complete those tasks efficiently that would normally take you a million years.
Let's face it. A majority of us didn't know a whole lot about business when we first got started. I'm also willing to bet that most of us probably don't get excited about dealing with finances. If you do, what amazing planet did you come from because I legitimately don't know anyone that gets excited about organizing their money. Anyway, in that case you could outsource all your bookkeeping and taxes by hiring an accountant. Or maybe you're not great at copywriting but you do need to run a successful email newsletter and would like some help with social media captions... Well then you would hire a freelance copywriter. It's all about finding ways to save time (and money) and outsourcing is the one of the best ways to do it.
Growing Your Business
Running a business is stressful enough. Growing it? Well, that's a whole other side to entrepreneurship that can be particularly challenging. I'm sure most of us have had to wear many hats and do quite a lot within our businesses and that's completely normal. Everyone has started out that way. Many of us still do a lot today but in order to see your business grow, there comes a point in time where you sort of have to admit that you need help. Trust me, I've had to do it and it was very difficult. You can't do it ALL if you plan on having a sustainable career. Otherwise, you'll end up burning out faster than Drake can rap "out like a light."
Growing requires you to let go a little bit and outsourcing parts of your business will only benefit you. Not only will you be less stressed but you'll actually get to focus on being innovative. Think about all those times that you had a brilliant idea but legitimately couldn't act on it because of your limited capacity/bandwidth. It would be a shame not to get to work on some of those fresh ideas for your business if you're the captain, crew, and passenger of your ship. Know what I mean? If you're feeling like you're stuck then maybe it's time to consider outsourcing so you can focus on strategizing and growing your business.
Getting Back to Doing What You Love (and Having a Life)
We all started our creative businesses because we love what we do. Am I right or am I right? If only someone told us how very little time we'd actually spend being creative... Lol! In all seriousness though, this is probably my favorite benefit of all and probably the one we all need to hear the most. When you outsource some of those tasks that you're not particularly fond about (or that you lack the skills for), you get back to doing more of what you love. Nothing is more important than making sure we're good mentally because our businesses are, in a way, an extension of us. If we're not enjoying what we're doing, then why are we doing it in the first place? Why have a business at all if all we're doing is spreading ourselves super thin and not doing enough of what we love to do. Kapish? Don't be like Kevin...
I feel like I've made my case here and I'm pretty sure I needed to hear all of this myself but hopefully these posts made things a little clearer for you in your business. Sometimes it just takes a bit of nudging and time to even start thinking about outsourcing. Our businesses are our babies. It's going to be hard in the beginning but once you start, it's going to be an incredible feeling to know that things are getting taken care of and you can continue growing your business in a sustainable way.
Is it the weekend yet?
Arabela