Outsourcing: a scary topic for a lot of entrepreneurs! When they think about outsourcing, the first word that comes to mind is “money.” They’re convinced that outsourcing is too expensive and dismiss the idea entirely.
Or, if the expense doesn’t scare them away, the next thing they consider is how much time it’s going to take to teach someone else how to do what they do.
But here’s the stark truth of the matter: if you truly want to grow your direct sales business, you can’t afford not to outsource.
Don’t “Should” Yourself to Death
After the worries about money and time come all the “shoulds.” People think that they should be doing everything themselves. Tasks that fall into the “should” category include cleaning the house, keeping the books, and filing taxes at the end of the year. Sometimes we apply these shoulds to spouses as well, as in he “should” be mowing the lawn or fixing the fence.
If you’re a mom, you’ve probably also experienced Mom Guilt.
If you’re going to grow a home based business, you’re taking your already busy life (career job, school, kids) and adding a whole new level of busy right on top of it. In order to be successful, you’re going to have to carve out time to actually work on your business.
Outsource as You Grow
If you’ve just started your business, I’m not suggesting that you go out right away and hire a bunch of people to do the stuff you don’t want to do. We all have to put in the legwork to get to know every aspect of our business in the beginning, but at a certain point you have to make investments in the business if you want it to flourish.
Here’s a personal example. When I was about 2-3 years into my business, I had lunch with a direct sales trainer. At that time, I wasn’t making what I would consider a huge income from WineShop but I had big dreams. I remember her telling me to get an assistant.
There were things I didn’t want to spend time on and those were things that I knew would help me grow the business but that I wasn’t an expert at. I really needed another set of hands. It might sound crazy but I actually got another part time job so that I could pay for my new assistant!
Outsource the Simple Stuff
It was really scary to take that on when I was only making a couple thousand dollars a month. It was scary to take away from my family’s income, but I needed to focus on phone calls and host coaching, not on collating articles—my assistant’s first project!
Most of us easily spend at least a couple hours a week cleaning the house. If you’re doing this, stop it and hire a housekeeper! It’s easier for them than for you and having that time back is invaluable. They are experts at it. They are faster and will get it done. And don’t start with the “well I do it better” because if you love cleaning the house that’s one thing but if you don’t love it and you don’t have the time to spare then outsource it and spend that time elsewhere. Imagine what you could do with your business if you took all the time the housekeeper was there and filled those buckets of time on your business. If it’s not perfect so what, you can spend a few minutes doing it “your way” at the end once all the heavy lifting is done.
Same thing with taxes. I thought it was going to cost so much money to have someone else do my taxes but then one year, I found myself sitting on the living room floor surrounded by piles of receipts and I realized it was time to hire someone. By doing that, I freed up time and energy that was better spent on my own income-producing activities and frankly, she did a better job and probably saved me more than I would have but catching the little things.
Other tasks you can and should outsource include newsletters, cards, website design and maintenance, social media, billing, accounting and bookkeeping. If you need more help from a spouse or partner with the kids, why not consider outsourcing a couple of their dreaded activities. Instead of a fancy Holiday gift, hire a lawn guy. Next anniversary, hire a handyman to do all the “honey-do” items that keep you from having time with each other.
I realize that you may not be able to afford all these services right away, and you might not want or need all of them. So ask yourself, what are the things that you really dislike doing and what is it worth to get those things off your to-do list?