How Do I Start Outsourcing

Q: How do I start outsourcing my work if I don’t have a lot of money to start with?

A: A lot of people ask this. They think they can’t afford to outsource because it’s too expensive…but do it right and it’s going to MAKE you money by hiring people.This may be a long answer, but let me start with…

Alice’s Typical Work Day

Okay, I don’t really have a “typical” work day, but I can give you a basic idea of what kinds of things I actually do in my business. As far as daily tasks go, they are very limited. I usually start the day out by communicating with my assistants and business partners on our current projects and things that need to be done. Then, I go browse a couple of key message boards that I participate in. Then I attend to the tasks that have fallen in my lap as a result of our discussions (but I do delegate as much as I can). I also go through my current projects, analyze their progress and make improvement plans where necessary.

Basically…I’m a project manager…and I hope you’ll strive to be one too. If you are attending to all the details of your business without help from humans and technology…you are standing in the way of you and success. Or if you do become financially successful, you might find yourself totally burned out and the “real you” (remember the you OUTSIDE of owning an Internet business) might get lost in the process. Your Internet business should enrich your life…not take over your life.

If that sounds mysterious to you (i.e. What the heck is a project manager?!), let me tell you what I don’t do in my business.

In summary I avoid working on things that don’t make money in my business. My assistants answer email, add content to my website, distribute my articles, do research, help publish my newsletter, moderate my message boards and so much more (I love my assistants!).

Alice’s Crazy Math You NEED To Do This

I’m not a mathematician, but I discovered that the calculation I’m going to share with you is CRUCIAL to my success. My time has a value and I currently value it at least $100 per hour. If I can hire someone else to do the work for me for less than that…I hire them where possible. That way, I can spend time working on the things that make me $100 per hour or more. There are a few exceptions where I do some of the work when it’s not as profitable…but only when I really enjoy it.If that doesn’t quite make sense…let me break it down for you.

Let’s say you make $2000 per month and you are currently working 40 hours per week. That means your time is valued at approximately $12.50 per hour right now ($2000 divided by 160 hours per month).

Let’s say you want to increase your value. Obviously, some of the hours you work earn you LESS than $12.50 per hour and some earn you MORE. Find out what earns you less and start outsourcing it. That gives you more time to concentrate on the things that make you more money. In addition, it will also let you cut out some of the extra hours you’re working. After all, do you REALLY want to work 40 hours per week? Perhaps you do…and to each their own…but the potential for increasing your value and decreasing your hours is available to you, if you embrace it.

But What If You Can’t Afford It? You Can’t Afford NOT To Start!
Okay…you don’t have to start hiring 10 full-time employees immediately…go slow. Start by hiring someone to help you with administrative tasks a few hours per month and see what you can do with that extra time for your business. If you reassign your time wisely (moving from something that makes you $1.50 per hour to something that makes you $17 per hour…you can certainly afford to pay an assistant). You’ll find outsourcing a great way to accelerate your profit potential. Once you recoup the costs of hiring out, you can do it more and more.

As far as what to outsource, here’s some ideas:

• Answering emails and phone calls
• Bookkeeping
• Packing & shipping your products
• Technical programming
• Adding content to your website
• Content writing
• Building incoming links to your website.
• Managing and recruiting your affiliates.
• Moderating and managing your chat rooms, message boards, etc.
• Distributing articles and press releases
• Data entry
• Newsletter publishing

But you’ll want to make a list of your own daily tasks and evaluate whether it’s worthwhile for you to continue working on them or if you should consider hiring someone.
Resources:
Outsourcing Sweetie: Gain access to my personal team of assistants.