Too much on your plate? Here are 6 tasks you can outsource
If you've got an epically lengthy list of tasks, it might be time to hire reinforcements. Below are six tasks that you could outsource to a freelancer or virtual assistant.
If you are an entrepreneur, your plates are always full.
The projects just keep on piling up. You're swamped with emails, you have 17,17 Excel spreadsheets open You haven't checked your social media notifications in a week, and you keep catching typos following the timeyou write blog posts.
The list of tasks you have to complete is way much too large for one person. There's no way to tackle it all on your own -- and that's fine.
The time has come to bring in reinforcements. For example virtual assistants (VAs) as well as freelancers.
The outsourcing of repetitive tasks will give the time you need to focus on growing your company. From entering data into your system to social media management There's a myriad of tasks which consume your time and can be outsourced to a third-party.
In this post, we'll cover six tasks that you can delegate for time savings (and your mental health).
First ask yourself if outsourcing actuallyworth it?
Yes, and we'll explain why.
Why outsource tasks or tasks to an assistant virtual, or freelancer?
It's even more so considering this perplexing stat: Workers tend to spend 2.8 hours per day on productive tasks.
When you're a full-time owner of a business this number will be more for the person who works full-time. It's likely that you're working on things that don't make the most efficient utilization of your time.
By outsourcing those lower-growth, repetitive tasks to the freelancers or to a virtual assistant (VA), you can be able to spend more time on higher-growth to-dos.
Get an expert in to complete the tasks that you do not want to spend time on (or you really don't like doing).
You can save money and time when the hiring of a full-time employee.
These benefits are why 70 percent of small- and medium-sized companies (SMBs) have hired a freelancer, with 81% of them saying that they intend to continue to employ freelancers.
Hiring a virtual staff -- like freelancers and VAs -- has also been proven to boost productivity.
Research says remote employees can be up to 13.5 percentage more productive over their office counterparts.
All in all outsourcing your work to freelancers or a VA could help you get some of your least favorite work-related tasks that have the lowest growth potential off your list, freeing your time to concentrate on expanding your business.
Then, there's only one remaining question you need to address What tasks are you able to assign to an outside company?
6 tasks to outsource if you're short on time
1. Organization and administrative tasks
When we think of outsourcing tasks to the virtual assistant They usually imagine offloading tedious jobs like data entry or transcription. These are certainly part of many VAs work.
They can also assist business owners with a wide array of duties this is likely the reason the global outsourcing market including VAs -- reached 92.5 billion dollars in 2019.
The most popular VA tasks include:
Calendar management and scheduling
Data entry
Management of projects
Event planning
Email marketing
Follow-ups and outreach for PR
Controlling accounts payable, invoicing and recording expenses
Support for customers, which includes managing accounts on social media
CRM software management
Analysis of competitors
Converting audio and video files
Vendor management
Webinar management
Social media marketing
Phew. If this list appears to be spanning a variety of abilities, it's because VAs are some of the most flexible team members out there.
If you're looking for an VA, make sure you know which tasks you want the VA to concentrate onin addition, you should have funds to reward them fairly in accordance with their abilities.
The current rate of market for VAs are:
$25-40 per hour for general admin skills
For advanced skills
$50+ per hour for skills that are specialized
As we are in the interim, we can move on to some more specific jobs to outsource- like accounting and bookkeeping.
2. Accounting and bookkeeping
If you're anything like me I am you're nota numerals person there's a hundred different things you'd rather do instead of crunching numbers.
Now, if you're earning less than five figures in your company and don't have lots of costs to track then you're probably able to handle the finances of your company using a tool like QuickBooks .
If you earn more than that, working with a freelance accountant can take the nitty-gritty of managing your books off of your hands and help simplify your management of finances.
Accounting is among the most frequently outsourced business processes .
And there's a good reason why. Accounting is one of the most important tasks for smaller businesses, particularly when you consider the fact that 29percent of start-ups are unsuccessful because they're in cash.
Plan, organize, and pay quarterly taxes
Make sure you control your cash flow
Keep track of and follow the
Contrary to software for accounting and accounting software, an accountant or bookkeeper will give you individualized advice and answer questions in greater depth since they are familiar with the specific tax issues you face.
Some bookkeepers even specialize in helping professionals in specific fields. As an example, Friedman, Kannenberg & Company PC is a specialist in the accounting and bookkeeping services needed by musicians, bands, music equipment dealers, as well as music education institutions.
If you want to find an accountant who knows the ins and outs of your field, Google "accountant specializing in the industry you work in".
If you're a small business owner, accounting services are one of the first things that you ought to consider outsourcing (unless you are really interested in analyzing tax code -- and I'm not going to judge).
In addition to numbers-heavy tasks such as data entry and bookkeeping, you can outsource tech and creative work too.
#3: Web development and design
It takes users about 0.05 seconds to form an opinion regarding your website.
This is why having a reputable web designer in your corner matters.
Your website needs to be visually appealing, easy to navigate, and informative. And, in today's age of instant gratification, it needs to be fast.
26.9 percent of online website visitors have to wait for less than four seconds a page to load, and 45.4 percent of users said they would be less likely to buy items if page loading speeds were slower than expected.
It is also important to make sure that your website is responsive to mobile devices. The mobile-friendly traffic accounts roughly half the traffic on websites worldwide Visitors will be 5 times more likely to abandon your website when it's not mobile-friendly.
Plus, Google announced in the year 2018 that they're boosting the positions of mobile-optimized websites on their mobile-friendly search results, so the presence of a responsive or mobile-optimized site can help your SEO, too.
(You are able to check the site's accessibility on mobile devices using Google's mobile-friendly checker tool .)
Outsourcing your website task to a skilled web developer and designer can aid you in designing a website that is fast loading, performs beautifully on mobile, and fits your brand image.
So, where can you find web developers and web designers to help make your website shine?
A few of the most popular websites to locate a web developer include:
The Website Builder lets you develop a website that sells any number of digital products including online classes, memberships, and digital downloads -without any needing to type in a line of code to troubleshoot an unresponsive WordPress theme, or even install the wrong plugin.
Have a look at the website Mallika Malhotra expert in branding and photographer, created using the site editor of's:
Mallika modified her website to match her branding and style without needing a developer or designer to design it.
Additionally, they take care of mobile optimization, site speed, as well as all other technical issues as well, which means that Mallika as well as you can concentrate on creating and selling items instead.
A well-designed, simple-to-use site is a must-have, but without great information, it will only get you to a certain point. Luckily, you can also hire copywriting or content writers.
#4: Copywriting, content and writing
Making and carrying out a successful content marketing strategy takes a lot of time and effort, especially when blogs typically take 3 hour and 45 minutes to write.
If you're looking to put out weekly content, that's an extra four hours each week that solopreneurs don't have to spare.
Furthermore, different kinds of content require different types of writing.
There's an abundance of experienced, skilled freelance copywriters and content marketing experts out there to help you develop content that appeals to the audience and increases sales.
You can outsource writing tasks in all kinds, such as:
Blogging
Writing press releases
SEO-related services like search engine optimization, link building, as well as backlinks
To locate skilled freelance content writers Jodi Harris, who is the director of strategy and editorial content at the Content Marketing Institute, recommends these tactics :
Reach out to your professional network and ask whether they know of writers that they can recommend.
Post the assignment to a writer's job board focused on freelancer services, like upwork.com as well as LinkedIn Pro-Finder .
Employ an agency that provides creative services or a Content marketing platforms such as Contently . (This option tends to come with a higher price tag, however.)
And even if you keep the creation of content written in-house you can make sure your blog content and blog copy is top-quality with outsourcing proofreading and editing processes.
#5: Editing (writing, video, and podcasts)
Your target audience is eager to view (and hear) as well as read and view amazing information from your company. Consumers love the content they consume.
Take podcasts, for example. 64 percent of Americans listened to some type of online audio (like podcasts) in 2018. the weekly listeners to online audio reporting an average of nearly 17 hours of listening per week.
That's a lot of content that your customers could possibly enjoy from you. And plenty of information you could use to earn your readers' trust, loyaltyand even dollars. Yet, content that isn't of high quality is unlikely to convert viewers into buyers.
Editors are the ones to call. An experienced editor can be what differentiates good content and excellentcontent.
Editorial editors can assist writers to sound their best, get their point across clearly, and avoid common writing mistakes .
It's also possible to use tools such as Grammarly as an extra check however it shouldn't completely replace the human editor -- even if you're proofreading yourself. Grammarly's AI occasionally misses mistakes (or finds errors where there are none).
Based on the type of content you're seeking -- as well as the price you're willing to spend- podcast producers can help with everything from reducing background noise to offering editorial input that helps your show tell a better storytelling.
The last but not least is that video editing is another tedious task that outsourcing can take off your plate.
For editors who are looking for freelancers to edit any type of content, check out freelance marketplaces like Upwork and Freelancer.com .
Keep in mind this old saying You get what buy.
If you're looking for freelancers that claim to offer the best rates and the highest quality, look for experienced editors. It'll help you get the highest quality service -as well as save you a lot of time (and the stress of) at the end of the day.
Similar to audio editing and video the final job to complete is one that takes a lot of skill and patience to master, which makes it an ideal candidate for outsourcing.
#6: Graphic design
Let's take this issue over with: Photoshop is hard. (And I'm not saying that because I got the grade of C in high school's Graphic Design class.)
If you're a smaller business owner, chances are that you're not able to master graphic design. Visual content is, however, a key part of branding and marketing online.
Indeed, more than 90 percent of purchase decisions depend on images and 40 percent of marketers said that original graphics aid them in reaching the goals they set for their marketing in last year.
Employing a graphic designer will help develop your brand's visual appeal across your website, digital downloads, social media profiles, and much more.
Freelance graphic design deliverables might include:
Logos
Infographics
PowerPoint templates
Design and layout of ebooks
To save even more time, you can make a commission for ebooks and slide templates you can reuse for a number of times, which means you don't have to create those assets from scratch every time.
As an example, turning your data-heavy blog post into an infographic makes the content easier for your audience to absorb Infographics get shared and liked through social media 3 times faster than other types of media.
For a graphic designer to find look into design marketplaces like DesignCrowd and, naturally, UpWork's design section .
Both websites connect businesses to hundreds of thousands of independent designers and design work ranging from web design and email templates, to packaging and T-shirt design.
Here's the bottom line: Like all of the things we've discussed in this article visually appealing content is an integral element of developing your business -- one that you don't have to tackle on your own.
Outsource these 6 tasks for a shorter list of tasks
"There aren't enough hours in the day" is a common cliche that has an reason. It's truthful particularly in the case of entrepreneurs looking to establish a company on your own.
Utilizing a virtual assistant or freelancer can help you get back your time. In case you're wondering, here's the six things you should consider outsourcing:
Organization and administrative work, such as data entry, scheduling management, as well as transcription
Bookkeeping and accounting to keep you on top of your cash flow and tax obligations
Web design and development for creating a UX/UI that your audience will love
Content writing and copywriting, to ensure that your content marketing and sales material stands out the crowd (and the Google search results)
Audio, video and editing of written content so you don't have to worry about typos or choppy audio
Graphic design and visual content for displaying your company's identity and catch your potential customers' attention
Asking for help can seem difficult, and often there's a lot of pressure for entrepreneurs to handle it all independently. However, there's no reason to not consider outsourcing your tasks to get back to doing your best workdeveloping and expanding your company.