business

By Vaibhav Shah

Nobody knows the value of time more than an entrepreneur or a business owner. There is always something or the other to look into, with time always being one of the main constraints. For that reason a lot of businesses choose to outsource tasks to specialized freelancers or offshore web development companies.

According to a research by the American Psychological Association, businesses experience a 40% reduction in productivity when they manage multiple tasks or projects at a particular instant of time. When you work on multiple things, it not only takes more time to complete but also increases your stress levels. As an entrepreneur, you can’t afford that.

When you reduce your overhead by outsourcing some of the things, you lift the burden off to a certain extent. Outsourcing enhances business continuity and controls operational expenses and risk management. It also frees up more time for you so that you can release your stress levels and focus on what is more important.

Nowadays, it is easier than ever to find freelancers who can do your work on a fee-for-service basis. We have curated the five most suitable tasks you should outsource to level up your business in 2019.

1. Content writing

A high-ranking website needs high-quality web content and blog posts. You can outsource all the content work to a freelance writer who can create quality articles, newsletters, case studies, eBooks, whitepapers, and other marketing materials like brochures and ad copy.

There are writers who can also write captions for social media posts. It can help you spread your brand message on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other social media platforms.

Content consumes a lot of time considering all the categories of it. The right thing to do is to outsource it. Another reason to outsource content is that you might not need a full-time writer if you don’t need a new post on your blog every day. And of course, you won’t need web content regularly.

Look for a writer who has an eye for grammar and understanding of the niche you operate. Share your expectations and compensation clearly with the writer so that you don’t have to compromise.

2. Financial business tasks

Bookkeeping, accounting and other financial tasks consume a surprising amount of time. These tasks are a time suck for entrepreneurs that distract them from primary business activities like sales.

Honestly saying, an entrepreneur shouldn’t be handling his or her own taxes.  In the initial phase of a business, you might not find these tasks worth outsourcing, but as your business grows, things will get difficult. It will become complicated and consume your precious time along with expenses.

Outsource it to a reputable person or a Certified Professional Accountant (CPA) who can keep the books in order, organize your finances and help you understand the parts of your business that generate the most or least income.

Financial tasks that can be outsourced include bookkeeping, accounting, tax preparation and filing, expense entry and categorization, invoicing, debt collection, etc.

3. Web designing

If you are someone who possesses less or no experience in web or graphic designing, then don’t indulge yourself into it. It’s better to focus on business deals rather than learning to design. Let a web development company or professional graphic designer do the job for you. It will not only consume less time but will help you produce a high-quality product.

Design aspects for a business can include several things regardless of the industry— structure, look and feel of the website, branding assets (such as style guide and logos), social media images, featured images for blogs, print materials like brochures and more.

Many businesses hire amateurs for designing images and conceptualizing brand but before they realize its repercussions it often gets too late.

Visual brand identity is critical to the success of a business. Hence, find a professional website or graphic designer who can handle all these tasks and make your website attractive. Many designers also work on website development, who can add technical functionalities to your website.

4. Administrative tasks

Every single day, you get bogged down with several small and repetitive tasks that eat up a significant amount of your time. What you need to do is find a qualified virtual administrative assistant (VA) who can handle administrative tasks.

This can help you save a lot of time that you spend going through emails, setting appointments and scheduling tasks for employees.

Virtual assistants can consolidate and prioritize your correspondence, perform secretarial and clerical works like making travel plans and streamline the annoying processes. They can also coordinate meetings, train new members of your team, answer customer service emails and manage documents and sheets.

This will allow you to focus on the big picture.

5. Business research

For a business, it’s important to keep up to date with the latest trends in the industry, find contacts of other companies, plan upcoming posts on the blog and social media and other similar stuff. All these things can be daunting and time-consuming.

Consider outsourcing these business research tasks to a researcher who can find relevant information for you, get statistics for an upcoming presentation, schedule social media posts, etc.

A professional researcher can find expert links and stats for the next post on your blog, create comparison reports based on pricing, pros/cons or any other data for a service you offer, etc.

Wrapping up

To level-up your business, stop wasting your precious time on things that you don’t like or aren’t good at. By outsourcing the tasks, you get peace of mind and satisfaction, as professionals would be taking care of those tasks.

If done right, outsourcing can help in automating the business and allow you to focus on priorities.

Know more things that can/should be outsourced? Let us know in the comments below.

Vaibhav Shah is the CEO of Techuz, a top mobile app and web development company. He is a technology maven, a visionary who likes to explore innovative technologies and has empowered 100+ businesses with sophisticated solutions.

Business stock photo by patpitchaya/Shutterstock