Unlock Your Business Growth by Outsourcing

I remember the first time I noticed outsourcing. It was when Kodak decided to outsource all of their computer functions including the hardware, software and people running the operations. Kodak decided it would be cheaper to outsource all of their computer technology and operations to IBM.

Their reasoning was that if they could focus on cameras and film, they wouldn’t have to spend time acquiring and managing computer technology.

Many years later I had a chance to talk to the IBM person who sold that to Kodak, and a few years after that I talked to the Kodak attorney who put the deal together from the legal standpoint.

IBM essentially bought all of Kodak’s hardware from them and hired their staff, then began to perform all of the data processing Kodak needed.

This idea caught on and led to a lot of outsourcing among large corporations.

Does it make sense for a small company or an individual to outsource?

Maybe. If you do it right, then absolutely. If you do it poorly, then shame on you, you got what you deserved.

What areas of your online business can be outsourced?

Nearly every area. In fact, you may be outsourcing parts of your online business already, without even realizing it! For example:

Hosting
Most people wouldn’t consider buying their own T1, hosting system, routers, Uninterruptable Power Supply (UPS) or backup generator. The reason is the cost is prohibitive. It is much better to outsource that to professional hosting companies who already have everything that is needed, and will allow you to use it for a very small fee per month. Most people outsource their hosting, and many of them have never thought of it as outsourcing.

Autoresponders
While you can buy great autoresponder software and do that yourself, you would be foolish to do so. If it were just running software on a server, then fine. But the key to making an autoresponder work is deliverability. If you are running on your own hardware and you are accused of spam, it could kill your delivery. You would then have to identify all of the ISPs that banned you, and call each one to allow your emails again. Do you have the time and patience for this? Outsource it by using one of the professional autoresponder companies. Even our own NitroShoppingCart.com has autoresponder capabilities, and your delivery is high.

Pay Per Click
It is fairly straight forward to create and manage a pay per click (PPC) campaign. But the problem is it takes time and you have to stay on top of it because things change, new keywords come along, and old keywords quit being economical. Find someone to do this for you so you can focus on the high level marketing of your products.

Writing
Any kind of content writing – such as blog entries, articles, press releases, sales copy, web pages etc. can be done by someone who understands how to write effectively.

The question is, do you have the time, patience and inclination to study and improve your writing skills? Many of you are quite skilled at writing, and doing it yourself is perfectly fine. But most people are not, and it stops them from making progress in their online business.

Luckily, there are lots of talented writers eager to write for you. Just give them a little direction (and some money of course), and your content will be done before you know it.

Many Other Areas
Believe it or not, you can actually outsource everything needed to create a successful online business. This includes product creation, website creation, traffic generation, website optimization, technical issues, customer support and more. Take a look at what is slowing you down, or causing you to say “just as soon as I ____, I'll launch my site.” What is it that isn't getting done, or you are so bored doing yourself you keep postponing it?

Justification
There are many ways to justify spending money on outsourcing parts of your business. Most people first start by saying they can’t afford it. How do you know that? Have you ever really analyzed it? Or did you just blurt that out without really thinking about it, because you feel like you don't have any extra cash?

Most people I hear saying they can’t afford it always seem to be struggling with their business, whether it is online or offline. The reason is they don’t understand the value of their time. When you are a sole practitioner, or even if you have a few folks working for you, each one is wearing many hats. Each hat performs different tasks. Some tasks are worth $10 / hour, some $5/hour, some $100/hour or more. We frequently end up spending our whole day performing the low dollar value tasks, and postponing the high value tasks. There are lots of reasons I’ve heard or have used myself.

“Oh it will just a take a few minutes to knock out these little tasks first.”

“Someone has to do it, might as well be me.”

“I can do it on my off hours”

…yet it still consumes your high value time and is distracting.

One of my wealthy friends says he is wealthy because he focuses on $10,000 / hour valued tasks. Using this kind of thinking, he has created three different businesses that have grown to over $100 million in revenue, and is in the process of doing it again. In fact, he just raised $100 million in debt / capital to acquire nearly $1 billion in oil reserves…by doing $10,000 / hour or more tasks and outsourcing or delegating the rest.

Hindrances
It is easy to say you need to do it, because others won't do as good a job. This can be true, but who cares? It is a bottle neck to your growth…get over the perfectionism. I’m not suggesting turning out poor quality, but perfectionism is usually way beyond good or even great quality. Not only that, but in many cases you will find that others actually do a better job than you ever could. (because they are trained and skilled in that area)

Here's another excuse:

“I don’t have the time to find and train someone.”

Hmmm…maybe you don’t have the time NOT to hire and train someone. Think about it. If you give it a bit of extra effort for a short time, it can permanently remove the hours you currently spend doing that task. It is a small, short term sacrifice with great long term results.

“They always seem to get it wrong…”

This could be from poor instructions. People are eager to please, but they aren’t mind readers, so give them some clarity in your directions and expectations.

“Where do I find someone to outsource to?”

Here are a number of resources to use:

Advertise on craigslist.com
Post a request for help on guru.com, elance.com, scriptlance.com, and many other sites like them.
Do a search in the search engines for the task you want outsourced, and find companies that do it.
Search for the task you want outsourced and look for companies that do so
Check with workaholicsforhire.com, they offer a wide variety of services. We plan to offer outsourced services soon.
Also, the Nitro Blueprint System includes an Outsource Directory, which lists qualified companies and individuals you can outsource every part of your online business to.

You now have no excuse…outsource and begin to grow and expand like you have never experienced so far.

- Dan