Why You Need To Outsource To Scale Your Online Business
If you are used to taking care of everything yourself when it comes to your online business, then the thought of asking others to help you with this may horrify you. But the bottom line here is that you will never successfully scale your online business if you keep trying to do everything yourself.
While you’re busy taking care of the daily administrative, operational, and marketing tasks for your online business, you’re not planning for the future. Essentially, you’re not looking at how you can ramp up your marketing efforts so that you can generate more leads and customers.
Outsourcing the tasks that you currently perform to others will free up your time so that you can concentrate on managing your online business. There are plenty of places where you can find competent freelancers that will do just as good a job (if not better) than you are able to do.
Reasons for Holding Back with Outsourcing
Many online business owners are not comfortable with the concept of outsourcing for a variety of reasons. Here are the most common reasons why online business owners resist outsourcing the work that they need completing:
- They think that it is going to cost them a fortune to outsource. Why spend money when you can do it yourself for free?
- They don’t believe that any other person can perform the tasks for their online business as good as they can. After all, they created this online business from scratch, so they are going to know what is required and no freelancer can match this knowledge.
- They think that it is going to take a lot of time to train a freelancer(s) to do the things that they do. They can put this time to good use in their online business.
Can you relate to any of these reasons for not outsourcing the tasks that are required for your online business? It’s OK if you have similar thoughts to this. You’re not alone.
You can Trust Freelancers
Some very good freelancers online have an excellent reputation. They have built up this reputation by delivering what their customers want on time and at the price stated. Their customers return to them again and again because they trust them, and they know that they are reliable. Does that sound good to you?
We are not saying that everyone offering freelance services out there is completely trustworthy. That would be foolish, as there is no way that we can guarantee this. But what we can tell you is that there are certainly reliable people available that will follow your instructions to the letter and deliver exactly what you want.
Freelancers do not have to be Expensive
Freelancers from countries like the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and Canada are going to be the most expensive. This doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t use them – it makes sense to invest in the scaling of your online business.
There are freelancers from other countries such as the Philippines, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and so on that are certainly not expensive. They are familiar with how digital marketing works and can undertake many tasks successfully for you at a low price. Just because English is not their first language doesn’t render them incapable.
How To Ensure Outsourcers Deliver What You Want
If you’re committed to growing your business, and you have never used outsourcers before, you’ll want to read through the next section. After all, it can be a daunting prospect outsourcing the things that you do in your online business to freelancers, but if you follow the advice here, you’ll build up trust and all will be well.
What Will You Outsource?
First, you need to decide what it is that you want to outsource. You will always need content for your website and for your social media posting, so maybe you need to outsource this to a competent writer.
Alternatively, perhaps you need some code developed and need to find someone that can do this for you (maybe to automate tasks for your online business). How about new graphics for products or your website? A good copywriter can write enticing copy for your sales pages.
Think about those things that you do that consume a lot of your time. If you don’t like writing or are not that good at it, then writing content can take a long time. You don’t have to outsource everything at once, just start with the most time-consuming tasks.
Finding Good Freelancers
There are plenty of websites available where you can find good freelancers. Two different types of freelance websites exist; gig style and project style contract workers.
A gig style website features freelancers that offer specific gigs such as writing content, designing logos, fixing WordPress problems, copywriting and a lot more. The most well-known website for this is Fiverr.com. Another good one is PeoplePerHour.com.
With a project website, you post your requirements and then freelancers will submit bids to complete the work. You can go to Upwork.com, Guru.com or Freelancer.com for this. Both the gig and project freelancing websites all rate their freelancers based on customer reviews.
Tell Them Exactly What You Want
This is very important. You must explain in detail what you want the freelancer to do for you. If you want them to include specific keywords in an article, then tell them. Maybe you want the content written in a particular style.
For complex work such as coding, you really need to get specific. Some freelancers do not speak English as their first language, so bear this in mind. You can engage in a chat or messenger session with the freelancer to ensure that your instructions are understood.
You can’t be lazy with this. If you don’t provide precise instructions, then you will probably not get what you want. Freelancers are not mind readers. It is worth putting in the effort initially, as after this your freelancer will know what you are looking for.
Check the Work Thoroughly
Whenever you use an outsourcer, particularly for the first time, it is really important that you thoroughly check the work that they provide for you. If you are not happy about something, then you can request that they make changes.
If there are minor mistakes, then point these out to your freelancer. They will want to learn how you want your work created and will make the necessary changes. Don’t go crazy on a freelancer if they make a mistake. Take the time to explain where they want wrong. You want them to be on your side as you are scaling your online business.
