Outsourcing can be a valuable practice for many small business owners. It frees up time allowing them to handle the important areas of their business. Those areas include ones the owner truly needs to focus on. Outsourcing allows someone else, a paid assistant or other professional, to handle areas such as email, bookkeeping, etc. However, to make the most of outsourcing it is important that it be handled strategically.

The following are some tips for a better outsourcing experience:

Communicate! With outsourcing, communication is the key. Without proper communication between the business owner and the assistant, things can take a turn for the worse and quickly. You will want to make sure from the beginning that your helper understands what is expected of them, what your agreement is and how you will go about communicating, paying them and evaluating their work. A good assistant will know to ask questions should they need clarification on a project, but you can also facilitate the process. Proper communication can make life easier for both of you.

Sign an agreement. This can truly make or break the relationship. Treat your outsourcing agreements properly as a business agreement that needs to be handled in a business manner. You will want to draw up a written agreement that the both of you are satisfied with and make sure that you have a signed and dated copy to keep for your records. This will save you a lot of pain in the future if the business deal, tasks or payment arrangements are ever in question.

Be explicit with instructions and deadlines. More often than not it pays to be specific. When you give very specific instructions and set specific deadlines there are fewer questions and concerns for both parties. Even if you think something is a “given” still specify to avoid misunderstandings for the both of you.

Let go! That’s right, once you’ve given a task away to an assistant do not try to hold on and control that job. That’s why you hired someone to handle it for you, so you wouldn’t have to worry about it any longer and so you could free up your mind and your time to handle other things. So, don’t try to control all the details of the situation once you’ve passed it on.

Take time to evaluate. Take the time to review the working relationship between you and your assistant. Every so often (at minimum once a year), evaluate the work being performed and how it is helping your business. Make sure you are spending your time and money wisely. Make adjustments as necessary.

There are tons of things you can outsource in your business and every business is unique. Here’s a starter list of 20 common tasks outsourced by small business owners, just like you.

1. Article Writing
2. Blog Post Writing
3. Article Submission
4. PLR Rewriting
5. Newsletter Creation
6. Affiliate Management
7. Website Creation & Maintenance
8. Blog Installation & Customization
9. Customer Service
10. Video Creation
11. Adding Content to Your Website
12. Project Management
13. Accounting/Bookkeeping
14. Graphic Design
15. Search Engine Optimization
16. Tax Preparation & Filing
17. Press Release Writing & Submission
18. Advertising
19. Cleaning (Office or Home)
20. Training of Employees/Assistants

While the majority of my list works for online businesses, there are several that will work for those who run a brick and mortar business as well (because you do have a website, don’t you?!).

Take the time to make your own list starting with all the tasks you do in a given day, week or month. Make a check by those items that you hate doing, could be better done by someone else or you can get done cost-effectively by someone else. Then start handing those tasks to someone else.

In my last post we discussed what outsourcing is exactly. If you haven’t had a chance to read the post, you can do so here.

As I mentioned before, outsourcing can save business owners like you and me tons of money, but sometimes more important than our money is our time. As mother of three who owns her own business, I know how easy it is to get your mind set on nothing but business. You want so bad to succeed and grow your business. It’s hard to NOT think about working, especially when you are the one responsible for every part of it.

I see countless business owners sacrifice many parts of their life, including important moments with their family, their own personal interests, and even their health. All for what they call their “desire” to succeed. It’s not worth killing yourself over. Outsourcing can help you have both a successful business and happy, fulfilling life.

By outsourcing everyday tasks in your business or things that you don’t know how or don’t enjoy doing, you will give yourself more time to do the things you enjoy doing not only in your business, but in your personal life as well.

This is different for everyone. Some of us hate dealing with the massive amounts of email received daily while others may despise bookkeeping. Personally, I am one who doesn’t like dealing with numbers, so this was one of the first things I outsourced in my business.

Outsourcing will also give you the opportunity to strategically plan your business and market it effectively. If you’re so busy doing all the little tasks, it’s tough to focus on the big picture.

Think about what things you prefer to handle yourself as well as what can easily be done by someone else, you can determine what areas of your business to outsource. You will also need to consider your budget when determining what to outsource to someone else. Your answers will allow you to pick and choose what you will keep and what tasks to outsource.

Let’s face it as a small business owner you often wonder, “Can I get it all done?” and in most cases the answer is no; at least not without a little help. We’re all human and therefore need to realize we can’t do everything. That is where outsourcing can become the small business owner’s best friend.

Even if you can only afford to outsource one or two things, the benefits of doing so will be great and you will in turn be much more productive in the areas you are able to focus on. Outsourcing is truly “smart business” for a small business owner.

In the past when you asked someone what outsourcing was, they would probably tell you something regarding sending work to be done overseas to an individual or company that would do that work dirt cheap. We can all picture calling a North American company for support and end up speaking to someone half way around the world that doesn’t speak English well enough to help us with our problem. Although that is a form of outsourcing and can be extremely frustrating, that’s not what I mean when I talk about small/home business and outsourcing.

Outsourcing for a small business owner is handing over some of your business tasks to someone who has the competence and experience to handle them for you. This gives you more time to focus on other, more important (marketing/planning) and/or enjoyable parts of your business. But, that’s not all.

Here’s part of the definition of outsourcing from Wikipedia:

“Outsourcing involves the transfer of the management and/or day-to-day execution of an entire business function to an external service provider.”

Outsourcing is generally done with an independent contractor (usually another business owner specializing in the tasks you need completed) versus hiring an employee. By hiring a contractor (IC) you, as a business owner, save tons of time and money. You don’t have to worry about paying costs such as taxes, insurance, sick time or vacation time. You also don’t have to dish out money for office space, equipment, energy costs, software, training, etc. You pay the person you are outsourcing the work to for the work they do. That’s it!

Most of these contractors run their own business which means the items they need in order to complete the job are most likely already a part of their business. Whether that’s software, equipment, training, or something else, you are sure to find someone who knows what they are doing and can complete your tasks very efficiently and to your standards. Online you’ll find many of these contractors go by the term virtual assistant or VA. A virtual assistant is just what its name implies, an individual who assists others from a virtual location.

Look for more topics on getting serious with outsourcing in the coming weeks. We’ll talk about why outsourcing can be a small business owner’s most important business builder, what kind of tasks can be outsourced and tips for making your outsourcing experience a positive one.