Once you have made the decision to outsource in your business the next step is to decide what tasks you take off your plate. I recommend that you start by jotting down all the tasks you have in the business. Take a close look at where you are spending your time and what are the things that you do not NEED to be doing. Not only should you think about outsourcing the jobs that are easy but could be done by someone else, also think about the tasks that are challenging and take a lot more time than they should. There are three areas I recommend looking at first when outsourcing are marketing, sales and bookkeeping.

Marketing

Unless you are a marketing expert I always recommend outsourcing this to a professional. Marketing is what gets eyes on your business and ultimately fills the sales funnel. It is one of the most important roles in one’s business but is often put on the back burner. Marketing has so many different areas that you could start by outsourcing a small piece like social media, content writing or graphic design. Determine where you are struggling in your marketing strategy and find people who can take on the marketing activities.

Sales

If you are a small business you are probably the CEO and sales director. If your business is growing and you have more leads than you can follow-up with it may be time to add another person to a sales role. If you are great at sales, then it may be natural to stay in this role as well. If you hate sales or feel that someone else could be closing more clients then it is a good idea to find someone who excels in this important area.

 Web Design

 Your website is a part of your marketing, but it is so important that it deserves its own section. There are many free or cheap options to build a website available, but usually those are not good long-term options. Having a professionally designed website is essential to a business. Whether you have a site built for you and then maintain it yourself, or you outsource the whole thing it is an area of your business that will need a lot of attention and should be done by someone with a lot of knowledge.

As the CEO of your business it is important to avoid being bogged down by tasks that you can give to someone else. Your job is to be the visionary of your company, outsourcing will allow you to free up bandwidth to do that job.