There are many factors or signs that could indicate, that as much as you would love to be able to keep doing everything you are, it’s just not plausible for what you want to achieve. Here’s how you can determine if outsourcing work is the right choice for you:
You feel overloaded and/or highly stressed the majority of the time:
We can all get that feeling of being overloaded and stressed out with our workload, from time to time, especially with deadlines to adhere to. However, it’s not good for our health and wellbeing to be consistently overloaded and highly stressed out.
You can’t concentrate on anything:
When you have too much going on, it can have a negative effect and we can lose all focus and concentration. Perhaps you’ve noticed this and it’s having a real impact on your productivity, so, while there is so much to get done, nothing or very little is actually being achieved.
You have areas of your business that you want to develop but can’t due to time/head space:
There’s nothing more frustrating than having a vision and not being able to work towards it due to not having the time or head space to put towards it.
You spend all your time doing tasks that don’t require your specific skill set:
If all your time is being taken up with tasks that don’t need to have your specific input, this will be limiting your time to do the tasks that do need your specific skills. Outsourcing can be a strategic solution to free up your time for more crucial responsibilities.
Standards are slipping:
This can be very damaging to a business if standards start to slip. Perhaps deadlines are not being met, you are getting more complaints, your sales are down, the reports are showing slower response times etc. When you’ve worked so hard to get a good reputation, the last thing you want is for that to all drop down as it can be very hard to build back up again.
You don’t have the right knowledge or skillset for certain tasks:
We are all good at different things! That’s what makes the world work 😉 Perhaps you are struggling with certain tasks all the time, tasks are taking you a lot longer than they should be, you consistently need to look up how to do something or ask others to help you with it.
You have identified that you need an extra pair of hands, but you’ve struggled with recruiting the right person before or you don’t need someone for a set amount of hours a day:
Perhaps you’ve come to realise you need an extra pair of hands or you’ve known for a while but have been putting off recruiting a member of staff. Maybe your last employee didn’t work out or perhaps you aren’t sure how many hours of support you need at this time. If you find yourself needing additional assistance during specific times of the month or year, outsourcing could offer the flexibility you seek.
You haven’t got sufficient processes or systems in place:
Is everything taking longer than you think it should but you just can’t figure out why or haven’t got the time, skills or knowledge to work out a way to simplify or streamline the processes so that everything runs smoother?
Your mood is low:
Perhaps you’ve noticed this yourself or others around you have noticed this. Having a low mood for any amount of time is not good for our wellbeing, especially if this becomes prolonged. Perhaps you’ve noticed that your usual relationships with others have started to become strained or you have become detached or have less interest in doing the things you usually like to do and enjoy.
Solution – outsourcing work
Once you’ve identified that you think you probably could or should start outsourcing work, the next step becomes a lot easier to do. Just the fact that you know, you aren’t stuck in this way forever and that there is a way that things can and will improve to help you get a better work and life balance back, will be a positive step forward!
Next Steps:
If you already know the tasks that you want/need to outsource, you can start looking for the right support for you.
If you don’t know the tasks that you want/need to outsource, start to write down any tasks that you come across, or find yourself doing, where you feel any of the above thoughts or feelings. This should start to build a list of the tasks you need support with.
