Just Because You Can – Doesn’t Mean You Should, Seriously!

Many entrepreneurs and business owners have that “I can do everything” mentality and quite honestly, I have had it too. (maybe still do, on some things, but shhh!) However, the harsh reality is we really can’t do it all and we shouldn’t!

Your entrepreneurial skills

We all have different skill sets, making us more useful and effective in certain ways over others. This kind of mentality is what often leads to a compromise between the quality of output and our ultimate productivity.  Think about it, we just aren’t that good, at everything.  This is why it is incredibly important, even for us entrepreneurs, to have a team to work with or outsource to.  You are likely one of those entrepreneurs, like me, who don’t have a team, so in this case, seek out those whom you know, like and trust and can do business with.

Outsource where necessary for better quality

As most entrepreneurs are the visionary to their own company, you don’t necessarily know everything that goes into all aspects of maintaining your business. You may think you do, but don’t kid yourself, you don’t.

What’s your expertise?

Consider what you do for a living as your expertise and outsource the rest. Sure, you may not start doing it that way, but ultimately, that should be your goal… or are you one of those who prefers to work yourself into the ground?  Yea, didn’t think so, so start planning to outsource where you lack knowledge and experience.

Typical outsourcing might be specialty skills like legal work, accounting or taxes, website stuff, paid advertising, graphic design, social media and etc.  Most of these require a specific skill set and/or specialized education in order to be compliant, or heck, just don’t well or right without tossing money out the window.

Mundane “monkey work” tasks

Let’s not forget those day to day mundane tasks, otherwise known as “monkey work”. You know them well – they need to be done, they are easy to do but a pain in the rear. Again, you are capable of doing these things but the cost of you doing them, is that beneficial? It’s not whether you can or can’t do them here.. but are you spending the right time on the right things?  Time is money, be sure you are spending your time where you make the most money. I know it seems simple, and it is.. just give it a go!  Your business will be better off by outsourcing the tasks that are out of your spectrum and below your “paygrade”.  Let the experts who have the knowledge and the know how to do high quality work as well as the mundane tasks.

Outsourcing for Productivity

Doing what you know and what you are good at comes naturally to you, just as it does others.  Therefore, it gets done with less time, less stress and better quality.  By honing in on what you are good at and outsourcing the rest to others, you are going to create a more productive business for yourself and others.  Time is money, and the lack of productivity is wasted time, meaning wasted money.

Suck it up, sometimes you just need to spend the money

You might hate the idea of spending money on something you think or know you can take on yourself; but when it comes down to it most often it is better to spend the money to hire someone else to do the task in which you lack know-how or is a waste of your time.  This will free you up to do more of what you are good at, making your business more productive. 

Where is your sweet spot?

You have a sweet spot, that is what you are good at and paid well for doing. The mundane tasks and the things that are outside of your knowledge need to be outsourced. Consider this example.. 1 – your sweet spot work is $50/hr. 2 –  the tasks that require extra work for you because they are outside of your knowledge and experience wastes more time. 3 –  the mundane tasks waste time where you could be making more money.  So, if you work outside of your sweet spot, you are either spending more time to learn and do things you shouldn’t or are using your $50/hr brain doing $20/hr work.. either way.. it’s a waste, make sense?

Bottom line:

Every entrepreneur and business owner desires high quality work and productivity.  More often than not, doing it all yourself will lead to a lack in at least one or both of these areas.  In order to be the most successful in your industry, you will want to find vetted people whom you can outsource tasks to.  Using experts in their industry or field will free you up to do what it is that you do best and allowing those experts to do what they do best putting quality and productivity at its peak all the while saving you money and time in the long run.

Should you need any help with internet marketing, such as paid ads on Google, search engine optimization, email marketing, social media or a marketing consult to figure how what or how to do what you need, please contact me as I would love to be an extension of your business and team.

~Kristen

Kristen Day

CEO/Founder of A Visual Business

Kristen is a small business owner and thus dedicated to other small business owners by helping them improve their online presence with search engine optimization, social media marketing, email marketing and pay per click advertising all of which are necessary 'evils' in the digital marketing sphere but enables small business owners the opportunity to compete with larger companies. When not in the digital arena, you can find her riding her Honda VTX1300 or drinking a margarita.