7 Common Questions About Outsourcing, Answered

You’ve probably heard about outsourcing before. It's actually a great way to scale and grow your digital business, if you're finding it hard to do things yourself.

But maybe you haven't really tried outsourcing as yet, and you have some concerns and some questions about how to start outsourcing smartly and effectively in your own business.

Here are the answers to a few commonly asked questions about outsourcing...

Question #1: Why Should I Start Outsourcing?

There are several reasons you may decide to start outsourcing, but here are the main reasons:

1. Outsourcing frees up your time. When you don’t have to do every single task in your business – when you’re not the “head cook and bottle washer” – then you’ll have more free time. Some business owners use this free time to focus on high-value, executive-level tasks. Other business owners use this free time to enjoy life: hobbies, traveling, spending time with friends and family, and similar.
2. Outsourcing helps your business grow more quickly. When you’re not doing everything yourself, you can get more done in a shorter amount of time – and that means your business can grow more quickly.
3. Outsourcing often creates better results. If you outsource tasks that you don’t know how to do or you don’t have the skills to do very well, then a freelancer will be able to provide better results. For example, if you’re not skilled at creating graphics, you’ll get better results if you outsource.

Question #2: Isn't Outsourcing Expensive?

While outsourcing can be costly, in many cases, you’ll find that it’s an investment rather than an expense.

For example, if you hire a skilled copywriter to create a sales letter for you, it may cost as much as several thousand dollars.

However, this same person may generate tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of dollars (or more) for you, which makes their hiring well worth the investment.

Question #3: What Can I Outsource?

You can outsource most any part of your business. Examples include:

• Content creation, such as blog articles, social media posts, newsletters and more *
• Product creation, including lead magnets, tripwire products, core offers and more
• Video creation (from script writing to final production)
• Copywriting (ads, sales letters, landing pages and more)
• Traffic generation including SEO, social media management, press release distribution and more
• Conversion testing and optimization
• Paid ad placement and management
• Affiliate program management
• Web design/development
• Graphics
• Voice overs
• Marketing strategy/consultation
• General research
• Customer service

This is by no means an exhaustive list. But the point it is, you can outsource most anything. You can outsource an entire task or just part of a task.

For example, you might outsource the research, outlining and creation of an infoproduct, but perhaps you create the sales letter and promotional emails yourself.

Another example: you might record a “talking head” explainer video for your website but hire someone else to do the post-production work and editing to make the video engaging and snazzy.

Question #4: How Do I Decide What to Outsource?

To answer this, ask yourself these questions:

• Which tasks are high-value tasks? (Focus on these ones yourself and outsource low-value tasks to others.)
• Which tasks do you dislike doing? (Outsource these.)
• Which tasks would give you a better end result if you outsourced? (Outsource tasks that you’re not very good at doing and/or those with a big learning curve.)
• Which tasks will help your business grow faster? (Outsource these.)

Question #5: How Do I Find Freelancers?

Once you figure out what to outsource, then you need to find freelancers to do these jobs. There are a variety of ways to find freelancers, and you’ll want to initially cast a wide net in order to find as many potential freelancers as possible for a particular job. You can find these freelancers by:

1. Searching Google or Bing. For example, search for “hire [type of freelancer],” and then check both the organic search results and the sponsored ads.
2. Asking for recommendations. Ask your colleagues and business associates who are already outsourcing to see if they can recommend anyone to suit your needs. You can also reach out to your social network, blog about your needs, and send a note to your mailing list. Finally, you can also ask for recommendations on business and freelancing-related forums, groups and at meet ups.
3. Looking locally for freelancers. You might check local classified ads (online or offline), as well as post your own want ads with local publications or local city-related sites.
4. Posting on a freelancing site. Another good way to find freelancers is by posting on freelancing sites such as upwork.com, guru.com, fiverr.com, peopleperhour.com, 99designs.com, freelancers.com and similar sites.

No matter where you find the freelancer, be sure to do your due diligence on each freelancer that you’re considering hiring. Check their portfolio, follow up on references, and research them in Google.

Your goal is to find the best candidate for your particular needs, which includes finding an experienced, skilled and established freelancer who has a reputation for professionalism and providing high-quality work.

Question #6: How Do I Outsource Smartly?

One of the reasons you probably haven't outsourced up till now is because you’ve heard horror stories about freelancing, which you definitely want to avoid. Here are some tips and best practices you should follow:

1. Do your due diligence. Research each potential freelancer extensively using Google, checking references, reviewing their portfolio, and checking their feedback ratings (where applicable). Be sure to cross anyone off your list who has red flags, such as someone with poor reviews or someone who hasn’t been in business very long.
2. Start small. Even if a freelancer looks good on paper, you might not work together well. That’s why you’ll want to initially test a freelancer with small projects. If you work well together, then you can do bigger projects together.
3. Create detailed briefs. Freelancers aren’t mind readers. If you want to get a good end result, then you need to create clear, detailed briefs. Include details such as word counts, working titles, detailed outlines, and examples. The more information you provide upfront, the easier it is for your freelancer to give you what you want.

Question #7: Should I Just hire employees instead?

If your business is still fairly new, and your outsourcing budget is a bit uncertain, then it’s a good idea to stick with outsourcing rather than hiring part-time or full-time employees. Here’s why:

• Outsourcing can be done on an as-needed basis. You don’t need to commit to spending a specific amount or having someone work X number of hours.
• You don’t have to deal with payroll and associated tax implications. Talk to your attorney about the paperwork you need to do in order to hire independent contractors. In most cases, this paperwork and tax filing is easier with independent contractors versus when you hire employees.
• Less training and management is needed with outsourcing. In most cases, if you hire a skilled professional, then you just need to provide a project brief and answer questions. You generally don’t need to train a freelancer, as they already have the skills and knowledge to complete the job you hired them to do.

Conclusion

You just discovered some of the keys to outsourcing through the above question and answer session. Be sure to put these tips to work so you too can outsource effectively and smartly.

Also, here's one more bit of advice: start small with outsourcing, refine your process, and then scale up.

For example, you might start by hiring someone to craft a few blog posts every week for you. As you get in a groove with the requirements on your end (such as planning, crafting briefs and fielding questions), then you can scale up and start outsourcing additional tasks, such as product creation. Once everything is running smoothly with that task, then you can start outsourcing another task.

In other words, focus on outsourcing one task at a time. Once one part of your business is outsourced and running smoothly, then outsource another component. Rinse and repeat as desired.