Are you a small business owner who is feeling the weight of all the hats you are wearing? Or are you a small business owner wishing you could focus on the parts of the business you enjoy doing and not the things you don’t enjoy? Then it might be time for you to start thinking about hiring additional staff or outsourcing some of the key responsibilities associated with running your business. We have come up with a few things to think about so you can decide if the change is right for you and your business.
How do you know it’s time to look for help?
Here are a few questions to ask yourself:
- Have I or have others taken on additional tasks that are taking me/them away from growing the business and increasing revenue?
- Am I or are others wearing hats that are not in my/their area of expertise just because the job has to get done?
- Is the business missing opportunities for financial protection because no one has the time or expertise to manage those tasks?
- Do we have clients, subcontractors or suppliers we should not have done business with because it turned out they were not financially stable and caused us to lose money or not get paid?
If you answered yes to one or more of these questions than it could be time to look for help.
What key areas make the most sense to get help with?
For every business, your needs are different. However, there are a few common areas that do not normally fall within the areas that are critical to your business and can be beneficial to get help with. Those include:
- Bookkeeping – Including accounts payable and receivable.
- Back Office Support – Including credit monitoring and lien compliance.
- Accounting – Including help with taxes.
- Marketing – Including strategy and execution.
- Website – Including development and maintenance.
- IT – Including managing your computers, emails, and technical website issues.
Should you hire or outsource?
For most businesses everything comes down to the bottom line and the same can be true when it comes to deciding between hiring someone and outsourcing the tasks. When you hire someone, you not only have to consider their salary but all the additional overhead that goes along with employees such as insurance and equipment. Compared to when you outsource the tasks you know what the set fee is and don’t have to cover items such as equipment. Additionally, you have to ask the question of will the tasks that, that person will be performing fill the amount of time you will be paying them for? Often with outsourced help, you are only paying them for the time they are working for you or for the specific project you have contracted them for.
Another consideration is if the tasks can be done remotely or do they need to be done at your location. There can be benefits to having someone in-house that you have more control over. However, the benefit of outsourcing can be that you will be working with someone who has other clients and has a broader experience base.
There is no one size fits all answer for every business you have to weigh all the pros and cons to decide what will be best for your business.
Scott Applegate is the chief operating officer for CapitalPlus Financial, a financial services company specializing in helping construction companies with back office support services including bookkeeping, compliance and credit as well as their cash flow needs. www.capitalplusfinancial.com or (865) 670-2345.
