When I started my business I was convinced I was going to do everything myself. I was going to teach every day all day, do all the finances, all the HR, all the admin, all the accounting, all of the marketing.. all of the things. I struggled to see what the immediate pay off would be of investing in people when I could get it done myself. 

Oh how much I’ve learnt! Now 10 years in I’m happy to pay anyone that has a skill that’s better at something than myself. 

So how do you know when it’s time to outsource something? And in those moments of overwhelm, how do you determine exactly WHAT you should outsource? And who do you outsource it to? 

Here’s my Top Tips:

• Know your expertise and what it is worth. Set an hourly rate for yourself, and if you can pay someone else less than your hourly rate to do a particular task you need done, it might be worth outsourcing. You want to be focussed on spending your time where you can bring the most value.  

• Think about what you enjoy. I’m a huge advocate for working in your areas of strength and hiring to your weaknesses to bring a better balance to your life and your workplace. For example, a team of “big picture” people is great, but it probably means you’ll spend a lot of time dreaming up fantastic ideas that never get put into action because you don’t have anyone focussed on the systems, execution and implementation of these ideas. Be realistic about the important tasks you avoid, and find someone who can fill in those gaps. 

• Know what it REALLY takes to run your business. Until you put pen to paper on every little task it takes to keep your business operational, you don’t have an accurate picture of where your time is being spent. Are you photocopying newsletters? Are you cleaning floors and taking out the bins? Are you spending hours each month preparing invoices or scheduling social media updates? Write down everything involved in your business and then group like-tasks into potential position descriptions. If you can find categories where you can “create a job”, it’s probably a great indication it’s time for an employee to fill that position!

• Play to the strengths of your team. If you already have existing employees, give them the opportunity to take on more responsibility and increase their hours to alleviate some of your workload. By “hiring from within” you know you are having this work fulfilled by people who already understand your business, your values and ethics, and have a clear picture of your overall vision.