There was a time, not too long ago, when in order to fill a role in a company, one had to start a long-winded, costly and time-consuming process of recruiting someone on to the payroll. This often-tedious task involved advertising, sifting through responses, holding interviews, chasing up paperwork, drawing up paperwork, training…and a whole lot of new grey hairs along the way.
Thankfully, in many cases, those days are behind us. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you…outsourcing.
What is outsourcing?
As its name suggests, outsourcing is the process of sourcing services or the creation of goods from someone outside the company. Often called ‘contracting out’, this may well be the answer to your business needs.
Need someone to sort your IT systems? Outsource it. Does your website need some work? Outsource it. And of course, need a superstar Virtual Assistant to provide all manner of helpful services? You guessed it…outsource it!
Financial Gain
The benefits are numerous. Firstly, these gems of the working world are not employees, and as such require none of the administration or provision that someone on your payroll typically does. No sick pay, no holiday pay, no pension contributions…no stationary or equipment to provide and no need to provide an endless supply of coffee and milk! They don’t need long-winded and expensive training courses, and are responsible for their own CPD.
Secondly, (as if that weren’t enough money-saving talk for you), you only pay for the time you use, or the work you have done. I’ve put this in bold because I cannot stress enough how incredible this is.
True story: I once had a job where there was literally not enough work to fill my contracted hours. As I’m sure you’ve guessed, I love to be busy. I asked around the office, offered to help others, and at times practically begged for work to get my teeth into…but still found myself being paid, with nothing to do. To some people, this may sound ideal, but not me. And I’m sure, not to my employer. Thankfully for us both I literally cannot sit doing nothing, so I spent the time researching into the industry to level-up my knowledge.
Anyway, the point remains that if you outsource work to someone, you only pay them for the actual hours they are sat doing your work or project.
Increased skills and specialisms
The advantages are not only financial. When outsourcing you have access to countless skills and specialities. These people are the experts at what they do. They are to the business world what Tyson Fury is to boxing.
You can get a Social Media whizz to sort out your Social Media, a book-keeping pro to sort your books and a blogging guru to ghost-write your blogs, all of whom will have spent significant time honing their skills and becoming ninjas in their art. You don’t have to invest heavily in one person and hope they tick all the boxes. In fact, I’m fairly sure that if there is a task you want doing, there is someone out there who can do it – and do it well.
Not only that, but an independent Virtual Assistant for example, will undoubtedly support you in copious ways – so much so that you’ll wonder what you ever did without them. Many offer a collection of skills and services that would make The Beatle’s back catalogue look meagre.
As an added bonus, you may even find that outsourcing tasks or skills frees up some of your existing staff to redirect their time elsewhere – a win-win situation.
Flexibility
Last buy by no means least, outsourcing affords you far more flexibility than managing these things in-house. You can contract work out to someone for a week, 6 months, a rolling basis or just for a single project. You can get in touch again in a year, two years or more. Your work with them can follow the ebbs and flows of your business.
In conclusion…
In summary, outsourcing work can give your business the competitive edge, enabling you to stay at the top of your game and power through the business world like a pro. Think of it as having a variety of revolutionary tools at your fingertips, to pick up and utilise as-and-when you need…why wouldn’t you?
So, the next time you need your diary managed, your email sequences sequenced or your to-do list done, pick up the phone and outsource to a VA.
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