8 Tasks Every Entrepreneur Should Be Outsourcing
You wake up each day ready to face your to-do list with big ideas and a cup of coffee. You sit down at your desk prepared to make a difference and create a lasting impact. But you can’t. Why? Because instead of increasing productivity by tackling your to-do list, you have a mountain of tasks in your way. Stuff that is crucial to accomplishing your goals, but that you’re not skilled at or particularly excited about. What if the best way to achieve success and accelerate effectiveness was outsourcing these 8 tasks? [Tweet "If you're an #entrepreneur, start outsourcing these 8 tasks today."] Instead of wasting time on the nitty gritty, you can spend more time adding value to your business—doing only what you can do. It’s simple math really. What is an hour of your time worth? How much value could you create for your business by spending one hour laser-focused while you hired a resource to take care of the minutiae getting in your way? Here are 8 tasks you should be outsourcing to start gaining momentum today:
1) Blog
You know that a blog is essential to providing fresh content for your audience and it comes in handy for SEO, Google rankings, etc. But if you still have nightmares about middle school book reports, you probably avoid public writing like the plague.
Instead, hire a skilled writer or agency (like Sweet Fish Media) to create niche content that fits your brand voice and resonates with your audience. You’ll be freed from the bondage of the blank page and have rich, shareable material to spread your message and reach prospective clients.
2) Social Media
When you played checkers for the first time, it took a little while to understand the rules. Once you got the hang of it, your focus shifted to refining the best strategy and adjusting to your opponent’s moves. [Tweet "Social media is a game, but the rules and players keep changing."] You have a mission to share with the world, but you can’t keep up with the constant state of change. You’re tempted to throw in the towel, but customers are looking for immediate, excellent service with a human voice from brands. And social media is the medium. Instead of cursing Mark Zuckerberg or wondering what the heck Periscope is, hire a virtual community manager or an agency to format and publish your content while pursuing business leads and customer service issues. Your voice will be heard amidst the mass of noise and you can stop worrying about the latest tricks and hacks to keep up with the fluid changes.
3) Chores and errands
Whether you’re hustling on a dream or just wanting to take a family vacation, time is your most precious resource. Of the two, which is more important: Spending an hour watching your son play baseball? Or assembling the IKEA furniture for your home office?
All the little chores and errands that deny you the freedom to do what's important to you with the people you care about can be swept away with the click of a button. Services like Task Rabbit will do everything from pick up your dry cleaning to scrubbing your oven and more. Spend less time on messes and more time on what matters by outsourcing the stuff you’d rather not do.
4) Code
In addition to foreign languages it would’ve been great if coding were a requirement throughout our education. Maybe then our keyboards wouldn’t be dented from us banging our heads on the desk, trying to make seemingly simple changes to our blogs and websites. Odds are your site is built on WordPress. What if you never had to worry about another plug-in update or layout change? What if you never had to look at another line of code? In their own words, "WP Curve empowers business owners to build their business without worrying about WordPress. You get 24/7 access to the world's best developers for maintenance, support, and small jobs.” And you get it for as little as $79/mo. Can’t argue with service (and pricing) like that.
5) Design
Most of us know good design when we see it, but we don’t always know why we like it or how the design comes together. We don’t understand color palettes, navigation, vectors, or typography. Or any other design lingo I can pretend to know.
Playing around with technology and tools is fun, much like we did as kids with crayons and clay. But this is your business. You provide the vision and direction, while a skilled designer can transform those ideas into an experience that catches (and keeps) the attention of prospective clients. Services like Kapa99 offer unlimited graphic design services for as little as $299/mo. The turnaround time is incredibly fast (usually less than 3 days), and the quality is excellent. (We use Kapa99 for the Sweet Fish blog as well as our clients’ blogs)
6) Website
If social media is a cocktail party, then your website is your front door. [Tweet "If social media is a cocktail party, then your website is your front door."] You want people to cross the threshold. To become paying customers and loyal fans. But if your website is sloppy, dated, or difficult to navigate, that’s like having a sweaty dog on the front porch and shutters hanging sideways off the windows. No one is going to come knocking—no matter how fantastic your product or service might be. Much like the design of your house matters, the building and maintenance is just as important. Find a trusted web developer (we love Protofuse), and let them optimize your website for you. You’re way too busy to learn what they’ve spent their entire careers figuring out.
7) Email Subscribers
Think of your mailing list as your little black book. These are your true fans, your tribe, your street team. It’s been said that an email list of 10,000 subscribers will make you a six figure income ($100,000+). That’s worth writing home about.
But how do you grow your list? You’ve got followers on Twitter and decent web traffic, but your email list is struggling. You need a tool that easily leads clients into your sales funnel. SumoMe is a simple plug-in that packs a punch. With a sizable toolbox of features to fit any job (i.e., pop-up, list builder, heat maps), it’ll be the best thing to ever happen to your email list.
8) Wardrobe
Classic American novelist, Mark Twain, once said, "Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society.”
Trouble is, many people either don’t like shopping or don’t know how to dress for success. You can get an MBA from an Ivy League school and still look like a model from a ’90s GAP commercial. Rather than waking up in the morning and wondering what to wear, let a professional stylist pick for you. Trunk Club does just that. No trips to the mall, no fighting for parking, no over-priced food court lunch. Just quality threads that will have you looking dapper and sharp. And for the ladies who may love to shop, but never have the time, try out StitchFix. StitchFix provides personalized selections recommended by a personal stylist, customized delivery to fit your schedule, and prices within your budget.
Conclusion
Here’s the truth of the matter: you can do all this yourself. You are smart, capable, and driven. You can accomplish anything you set your mind to. But why do it all yourself? You don’t have anything to prove. Outsourcing is the best way to utilize your unique set of skills and abilities. Coupled with your big idea, the sky's the limit. But not if you’re stuck in the weeds. Pick your head up, reach for the clouds, and let someone else pull the weeds.Sweet Fish Media is a content marketing agency focused on helping companies build blogs that increase sales. You don’t have time to write and promote a blog for your business. Let Sweet Fish do it for you.