Time is something that most business owners just don’t seem to have enough of, and one of the biggest problems for small businesses and startups is that the owners and founders are so busy trying to do it all, that they can’t put in the time to make it grow.
This is a huge waste of time and can keep you from your business goals, as there are some a whole range of jobs which are easy to delegate to a professional or freelancer. You may feel as though this is just another way of spending the money you are trying to earn, but it’s not! Remember that your area of expertise is the USP of the business, not the nitty gritty bits which make it tick.
Here are four tasks which you can delegate or outsource, now, so that you can make better use of your time.
Design
Unless you are actually a graphic designer, don’t try to do your logo, your website, your business cards, or any other graphics or art for your business on your own. You will end up looking unprofessional at best, and foolish at worst. Instead, look for professionally designed templates at the low end of the spectrum, on sites such as Canva, or a freelance designer you can work with at the higher end. Sites such as upwork.com and freelancer.com are great places to find freelance designers who can work for you on an ad-hoc basis.
Printing, organizing and archiving
Maybe the worst chore in any job. Filing, archiving and organizing. However, these jobs can be outsourced to a company who specialize in managed print services. These companies will take care of the health of your printers, can order in stationery and ink, manage your files in an offsite location and offer IT and telecommunications. Imagine how much time you will save if someone is archiving everything for you? The price you spend on this service is priceless!
Chores at home
This may seem like a strange item to include on this list of business tasks, but imagine how much more you would enjoy your downtime from work if you didn’t have to clean the house, mow the lawn, do the shopping, or fix the leaky toilet? Hire a cleaner once a week to come in and sort your home out, so that when you are there, you can enjoy the company of your family. This may seem like a luxury at first, but this service is surprisingly affordable, and the benefits far outweigh the cost!
Marketing
This is another one of those tasks that, unless you yourself are a marketing expert, is best left to the pros. If you try to market your small business without much direction or experience, you could find yourself wasting lots of money and time for very little result. Every marketing task, from a direct mail campaign to email marketing or Facebook ads, have people with specialized skills and experience who can make the process much easier for you.
