As a small business owner or entrepreneur, you’ve got to be comfortable wearing multiple hats — from internal operations and marketing to accounting and customer service. Then again, it’s not practical to have one person performing multiple jobs indefinitely, as they’ll eventually burn out and grow tired of the workload. Fortunately, there’s one aspect some business owners forget: It’s OK to ask for help. And sometimes, outsourcing tasks like payroll and social media can be just the solution to getting back to doing what you do the best, whether it’s sales, management, copywriting, or anything in between.
Below, Brett Snider of FindLaw describes ten ways to save time and resources by outsourcing certain small business tasks.
- Payroll. There is no need to saddle yourself with the hassle of keeping up with your employees’ withholdings, Social Security, and changes in state and federal tax law. Still, you’ll want to make sure your employees’ personal information is securely transmitted and stored.
- Social media activities. Unless you have a company large enough to justify a full-time social media position, your presence on Facebook or Twitter can be easily handled by an independent contractor. Just make sure your contractor complies with FTC guidelines.
- Web design. There are literally thousands of Web designers on the market begging for contract work; for a decent price, your website could go from shabby to snappy.
- Marketing. Business schools exist to pump out marketing consultants, find one and make her put her MBA to use.
- Bookkeeping. Having your financial records in order can either make or break your small business, so it may not be wise to burden an essential employee with this important responsibility.
- Accounting. Not to be confused with bookkeeping, you don’t necessarily need a full-time CFO-level employee to audit and analyze your bookkeeping data. Outsourcing it three to four times a year may you get the same results.
- App development. Want your business to have its own mobile app? Farm it out to a programmer or company that knows how, rather than killing time learning how to program in Cocoa. But you’ll still want to make sure your app complies with the law.
- Administrative support. Maybe one day your business can afford a full-time administrative staff position, but until then you can hire “virtual” administrators to handle your schedule, phone calls, and calendar for much less.
- Online security. Small businesses have enough trouble maintaining Internet security without you trying to test your employees on your own time. Security firms can very easily provide necessary cyber-security solutions for a reasonable fee.
- Legal review. If you’re not already using a prepaid legal plan like those offered by LegalStreet to have your business’ contracts reviewed, you may consider outsourcing your legal needs to a consulting attorney.
Which tasks have you found the best for outsourcing, and which are completed internally? Let us know if you have any time-saving tips of your own.
These small business tasks were compiled and written by Brett Snider and originally published on FindLaw.com. Photo credit: RockPaperScissorsInstitute.com
