One of the most common areas of business failure is lack of skills of the owner.  This applies both to online and offline business models.

The time you spend preparing for your new business is the most important time.  You should ensure you have all the skills necessary.  It will pay in the long run.  This does not mean you have to sign for courses and spend your valuable time learning new skills.  It means to delegate if you have in-house staff or as it is the case in most situations:  Outsource the skills you need!

There are many misconceptions about outsourcing.  One we must clear straight away is that outsourcing involves sending work to people in other countries who work for cents and perform the work below standard.  Outsourcing means finding an expert on the field and delegating the work.

What benefits will outsourcing bring to your business?

–          You will become more accomplished in your business as outsourcing will enable you to have more done in the areas that your business needs and that you have the skills already.

–          You will save time not only by getting more done by having assistance but you will save the learning curve associated with learning a new skill.

–          You will save money, this at first seems impossible.  How can you save money when you will be paying a professional?  Simply by saving your time.  If you are charged out for say $60 an hour you might find someone skilled in the task that only charges $30 per hour.  You will also save money as you no longer will need to purchase new software for the new task.

–          You will be more focused in your business.  Simply focus your own time in the areas you are skilled in and I guarantee your business will benefit

–          Your business will experience growth and increased profitability as a result.  Especially when you hire someone to do a task that you know needs doing but you don’t enjoy doing and keep putting it off.

Examples of outsourcing:

Bookkeeping: this would avoid you to have to purchase accounting software such as QuickBooks, Sage or any other.  You would avoid the time spent in the learning curve that such a task involves.

Graphics: For all your online mini sites and eBooks there is no one better in my opinion than Planet Divinity.  They really understand the internet business and in my experience they are one of the most honest internet marketers around.  They actually refunded to me my purchase and said not to waste my money having a website makeover when I just needed some retouching.

Website Design and Maintenance: For mini sites my recommendation as above.  For other type of sites ask for recommendations from other businesses, your local Chamber of Commerce or similar organisation.

There are many areas where your business can benefit from outsourcing.  For further ideas and resources about this topic I found that Outsource Weekly is a great place to start

Other places that I have used successfully for finding professionals in any discipline are http://www.elance.com and http://www.guru.com.  Websites and freelance directories are another good source of outsourcing professionals.

I have given here the basic ideas about outsourcing but before you rush to either outsource or investigate the topic further some words of warning:

Do not rush to outsource because it seems to be the in thing, you must have a plan of action. 

Do not outsource a loss maker because outsourcing it will not make it profitable.  But in contrast if you have a money maker idea that you don’t have the time to dedicate to it, outsource it!

Do not outsource a task that can be automated instead.  For example, do not outsource the submission of your article marketing instead consider using sites such as: Easy Article Marketing or Submit Your Article

Well I hope now you are ready to start outsourcing to increase your profitability.

Hasta la vista …