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When you run your own business, it's easy to be busy all the time. You can soon find yourself working long hours and often being busy doing tasks that don't make you money and that you don't enjoy.
But, if you're working round the clock, you don't really have a business, you have a job working for yourself.
One of the key points of having your own business should be giving yourself the freedom to do what you want to do with your time. Your business hours should be spent profitably and, ideally, enjoyably – freeing you up to make the most of your quality personal time.
Try this quick exercise:
On one side of a piece of paper, write down all the things you love about your business. On the other side, write down all the things you hate.
If it's on the right hand side of the page, you should find someone else to do it if at all possible and reasonable. If it's on the left, you can spend more time on it – unless you can find someone else to do it more cheaply.
Outsourcing can make your day a thousand times easier and more profitable. Here are some of the advantages:
- It allows you to focus on your priority tasks.
- You cut the learning curve by employing an expert.
- They can probably do the job faster than you.
- It frees you up to do things you enjoy.
You can outsource just about anything you can think of, including:
- Customer support.
- Website design and programming.
- Copywriting for websites, scripts, advertising and eBooks.
- Search engine optimization.
- Press release writing and distribution.
You can also employ a "virtual assistant" to help you with a wide range of tasks.
Through the Internet, somebody in another part of the world is in a position to help you - probably at a fraction of the cost you'd pay someone around the corner.
The best way to find vendors is to get recommendations from other people. If you can't get recommendations, try them out yourself with small tasks before you give them anything big or important to do.
There are several websites that provide access to outsourcing services. These include elance, rentacoder, workaholicsforhire, scriptlance and getafreelancer. Try a google search for those or to find more.
This is how they generally work:
- You post details of the project or service you need help with.
- Vendors or freelancers who have the ability to do the job for you will post responses or bids.
- These services are usually free to buyers with the vendor paying a fee to the site when they are awarded the work.
- You select the vendor most suited to your needs, based on their proposals and on your view of their portfolio of past work.
- You agree payment terms – which may be part payment in advance or use of an escrow account, which ensures that the payment is not released until all the agreement terms are met and the work is completed.
- Then you work with them until the task is completed to your satisfaction.
Think about what tasks you can get someone else to do more cheaply or quickly. If you're new to outsourcing, start with small tasks. You'll quickly find you want to outsource more.
Then you'll have to decide whether to spend your new-found free time working more or having fun!
Robert Greenshields is a marketing success coach who helps business owners and professionals who are frustrated that they're working too many hours for too little reward. Sign up for his free tips on earning more and working less at MindPower Marketing
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