When you first start a business, you might think you can do everything on your own; however, you’ll soon realise that this certainly isn’t the case. You can employ staff to help you out, but this can come with extra costs that you might not be able to afford. Outsourcing is one of the best ways to free up your own time for management tasks while also getting people who are skilled and knowledgeable in a particular field.
- Get recommendations from other people
When you’re on tight deadlines and you need to get things done properly, outsourcing work to the wrong people can push everything back and give your business a bad reputation. If you’re delivering items or services to a client and the person you’re outsourcing the work lets you down, it’s you that gets the bad reputation. Get recommendations from people you know and you’ll be able to narrow the search down a lot.
- Start off small
Don’t start off by outsourcing everything you have, since it can quite easily go wrong. The temptation can be strong when you consider how much money you could save and how much extra time you’d get if you passed the work along to another person, but it’s very risky and could damage your business before you’ve even started. Start off small with each new person too in order to discover how well they work and if they’re suitable for you.
- Communicate properly
Choose people who can communicate well and also make sure you’re communicating well with them. They need to know exactly what you need and how you like things to be done, and you need to know where they’re up to and if there are any important updates. Discuss terms of working before you start giving them tasks.
- Protect your money
If you’re dealing with people online, there’s always the risk of losing money or being scammed if things aren’t properly in order. While invoices and agreements over email can only go so far, if you’re handing over lots of work or lots of money is at stake, you should take the time to get an agreement which is legally binding in order to protect both parties.
- Remember you’re not an employer
When you outsource work to people, you are not employing them. You are using their services and they usually work on a freelance or self-employed basis. This means that while you can request certain things and tell them how you’d like things to be done, you don’t have a right to order them on how to run their own business. This is also a positive aspect of outsourcing to freelancers, since you don’t have to pay them sick pay or sort out their taxes either!
