Does your business need a boost?

Some tips for outsourcing the little things that take so much time.

Here I am, Sunday morning, sitting outside enjoying this beautiful day, ready to write the blog for this week, and of course, I have a case of writer’s block. We all face it from time to time, and right now, this appears to be my time.

I find inspiration for our blogs from those I chat with regularly, namely our clients or prospects. Today is no different. I’m reflecting on this week’s conversations to inspire my writing. But I feel like the main thread in the conversations this week, as they seem to be every week, is “I’m not sure I need help…”. I hear you, I really do. So let’s talk about that.

When you’re in business for yourself, its deeply personal, it’s personal because it’s you, your “baby,” born from your deep belief that helping others, either with a product or service, is a calling inside of you. And you’re right. I believe that everyone has a unique ability that the world needs to see. We all have the ability to impact others, regardless of the scale.

But your business is also deeply personal because you take full responsibility for the success or failure of what you’re doing, both the success of the business itself, but also your client’s experience. Bring someone on board to assist you, in any aspect of your business, means giving up a little bit of control, and that’s tough. You get that building your website, is best outsourced but outsourcing your emails, newsletter, customer service or social media… well, that’s a little too far outside of your comfort zone.

Or is it?

Let’s take social media as an example. You know how important it is for you to interact with your market on social media. But what if you outsourced the regular, scheduled posts or curating images to someone else? What if all you had to do was manage personal interactions? You’d enjoy it a lot more and have more time for other business tasks (or a mani, that’s your call!). Hiring someone to help you with social media, doesn’t mean they need to manage “all” of your social media, they only manage those aspects that don’t need your personal touch.

Now, let’s think about customer service, and maybe getting ahead of unfavorable online reviews. I know, it’s a sensitive subject, we all like to think that our service delivery is perfect 100% of the time, and it most likely is. But some of your clients won’t be happy and will go online to complain in the most public way possible. Having someone who just monitors your online reputation, to turn bad experiences into positive outcomes, could save you a ton of grief. Does this mean they manage all of your customer experiences? Not at all. You define the scope; they work within your guidelines. And this can grow and change however you want.

How different would your day look, if you knew someone was keeping an eye on your online reputation, or is sending out regular messaging to bring in more leads (heck, we’d all love someone to network for us! Online is no different!). What if you just had someone to post regularly to your social media sites.

My guess is, you’d have a little less to worry about and keep an eye on, and more time to focus on business activities that need your attention.

By Peggy Murrah, Founder of PMA Web Services