Deciding which tasks to outsource can be pivotal for the efficiency and growth of a small business. We've gathered insights from business owners and CEOs to share their singular tips on this topic. From identifying non-core activities to strategically delegating non-expertise tasks, discover the top five strategies to optimize your outsourcing decisions.
Identify Non-Core Activities
Prioritize Your Passion
Choose Tasks by Tracking Time
Discover Non-essential Operations
Delegate Non-Expertise Tasks Strategically
Identify Non-Core Activities
Effective work outsourcing has changed everything. One important piece of advice when deciding which work to outsource is to identify non-core activities—those that are necessary but don't directly support the main objectives of the company. These duties usually involve bookkeeping, administrative work, or specific facets of digital marketing.
Determine which tasks are outside of your company's core capabilities by first evaluating them. Seek out assignments that take a lot of time but don't make use of your special skills. For example, although social media marketing may be important, handling daily postings may not fit into your core competencies. By outsourcing these repetitive duties, you can concentrate on important company areas that encourage growth.
Furthermore, take into account jobs that require specific expertise or lengthy procedures that could be completed internally. Using professionals in those domains to handle tasks like content writing, graphic design, and website building can greatly improve quality and efficiency while freeing up your time to focus on your primary business operations. This strategy maximizes output while ensuring that jobs that are outsourced align with your company's goals.
Matt Little, Owner, Festoon House
Prioritize Your Passion
Outsourcing responsibilities in my company comes down to one crucial principle: prioritize your passion. As a leading instructor, my passion for teaching brings excellence to our courses. So, anything that dilutes this passion—tasks that weigh us down, such as managing complex IT operations or financial intricacies—are swiftly outsourced.
My advice to any business considering outsourcing: Keep the passion alive, steer clear of distractions, and let experts handle the cumbersome tasks. It saves time and keeps your business model flourishing.
Nooran Zafarmand, Co-Founder and CEO, Japamana
Choose Tasks by Tracking Time
The key is to identify tasks that are time-consuming yet non-core to your business. These could be administrative duties, social media management, or customer service inquiries. The idea is to free up your time to focus on strategic growth activities. A useful tip is to track your time for a week to identify which tasks consume most of your time but contribute least to your business's bottom line.
Einav Biri, CEO, FARUZO
Discover Non-essential Operations
In picking tasks to outsource for my small business, I prioritize jobs that demand specific skills or eat up too much time, freeing me up for the essential stuff. One tip I'd share is to really look at what I'm great at and what could be handled more efficiently by someone else, streamlining the whole business operation.
John Frigo, Ecommerce Manager, Best Price Nutrition
Delegate Non-Expertise Tasks Strategically
Understanding what tasks to outsource in a small business has a lot to do with understanding your own strengths, weaknesses, and the core competencies of your business. Initially, you should try to delegate tasks that do not fall into your expertise zone. For example, if you run a small marketing agency but struggle with the technical aspects of SEO, it would be beneficial to outsource these tasks to a dedicated SEO specialist.
Another tip is to outsource time-consuming tasks that distract you from the strategic and revenue-generating aspects of your business. In my experience, on a project where we had to scale a business for holiday sales, we outsourced the graphic design and social media management work to a virtual team. This enabled the in-house team to focus on strategic partnerships and promotions.
The key is to primarily focus your time and energy on tasks that directly contribute to business growth and customer satisfaction. Anything that doesn't fall into that bucket can be evaluated for outsourcing.
Matthew Montez, Founder, The MBC Group
