Running a business takes a lot of effort. You need to market your services, manage your customers, handle employees, file your paperwork, pay your taxes, clean your offices, buy supplies…the list goes on and on. While you may be a phenomenal multitasker with endless energy, the truth is that you may also need some extra help. That's where small business outsourcing comes in.
What Type of Help Should You Get?
There are two basic ways to go about adding manpower to your business.- You can hire people as employees. For example, if you are a busy handyman, you may want to hire a part-time office manager. This means adding the person to your payroll as a fixed expense. Remember, you will also need to pay this person’s social security, possibly health insurance, and vacation days.
- You can outsource certain types of tasks. Outsourcing companies are a good option for many parts of your business that require attention from time-to-time. In fact, outsourcing services you don't like to do or that it takes you a long time to do is an excellent idea for most business owners, for all sorts of services. In general, outsourced workers already know their task. That means they come on the job ready to work, so there’s little learning curve. Plus, they're economical. You only have to pay for the hours they worked or projects completed. If you use an outsourcing company, you don't even have to find these people yourself.
Areas for Small Business Outsourcing
Small business outsourcing can help you run your business better, and free up your time to focus on the tasks you do best. You can, in fact, outsource just about any task, but some of the more common ones you may consider include the following:Business process outsourcing
If you’re unfamiliar with the term, business process outsourcing is basically the outsourcing of your back office activities. These activities can include internal functions like human resources and accounting, or customer-facing activities like a call center. Here are some examples of how this can work for you:- Small business accounting – While you can certainly file your taxes on your own, it is often worth your time and money to hire a professional. Every dollar you spend on a good accountant is money saved on headaches, hassle, and amateur errors.
- Small business bookkeeping – If you don’t want to hire an accountant, you may consider outsourcing your bookkeeping. You can have someone come in to your offices once a week to issue invoices, send payments, file receipts, and update your financial transactions.
- Human resources – If your business is small, with few employees, an independent human resources professional (or company) is an excellent option. Outsourcing HR can help you with the hiring process on a per need basis, or help you come up with an employee policy. Also under the HR domain, you can use payroll outsourcing services to process payments at the end of each month.
- Customer support – Not all businesses need to have someone in-house answering the phones. For many, hiring a customer support service is enough. This can work in two ways. The first option is customers call your number and the service answers, passing on the message to you. The second is having the service handle the call from start to finish, only updating you as to the outcome.