How You Can Tell When to Outsource Versus Doing It In-house

How You Can Tell When to Outsource Versus Doing It In-house

We sometimes have a romantic notion of a small business owner slaving away in the back room after hours doing the taxes, and the payroll, and the inventory while simultaneously sweeping and mopping the floor. He is the sole proprietor, the chief cook and bottle washer. He is the king of his castle, and also the underpaid chambermaid.

And while many entrepreneurs try to live up to that unrealistic vision, it is a good way to find yourself out of business. While everyone can sweep their own floor, not everyone can or should spearhead their own online marketing campaign.

The real question is, how can you tell when to do it yourself versus when to outsource it to an outside professional? Because everyone’s circumstances are different, not all of these tips will apply to all people. But in general, they will provide a starting point for better assessing your own situation:

Social Media Management: Don’t Try to Be Who You Are Not

If you happen to be a grizzled old set in your ways/get off my lawn type of person, don’t pretend to be a young at heart hipster who is completely in touch with the modern youth vibe. Young people may have trouble recognizing fake news. But they have no trouble at all recognizing inauthenticity.

That does not mean that you shouldn’t pursue a social media strategy. On the contrary, you have to. It simply means that you will need to turn to a site like socialvantage.com for professional help with your social media management.

Social media management is too important to leave to chance. It is also too important to leave in the wrong hands. It may be your company. But if you didn’t grow up with social media, yours might well be the wrong hands. When it comes to social media management, you don’t want to try to be who you are not.

Project Management: Keeping an Eye on the Big Picture

It could be that the project you are working on is the entire company. In that case, it is important that you manage the details and strategies for success. But seldom does a single project constitute the entire company. As a business owner, you have to be careful to not mistake a single project for the entire business. Someone has to keep an eye on the big picture. And that someone is you.

That is why when you do land a big project, it makes sense to hire a project manager to oversee the task. You have a business to run. And most of the time, that business consists of more than that one project. The employees still have to be paid. Customer service still has to be provided. Books still have to be kept. So when the big picture is endangered by a project, bring in a project manager.

Hiring: When an Unbiased Opinion Is Crucial

You are biased. There is no way around it. We all are. Your biases will always play a part of decisions like who you hire to work for your company. You will be tempted to hire people who look like you, talk like you, think like you. Worse, you will be swayed by the type of person to whom you find yourself attracted.

This is 2017. You can’t just look into their eyes and go with your gut. Your gut will get you sued and put out of business before your business even takes off. You have to have an unbiased hiring process to avoid all of the diversity and harassment problems we have faced in recent years. These types of problems would be less likely to happen if business owners outsourced work where their biases were a factor like hiring.

Social media management, project management, and hiring: these are templates for judging when to outsource. It is not because you are incapable. Rather, it is because you should never pretend to be what you aren’t. You have to keep your eye on the big picture. And you cannot lead based on your biases. These are the types of situations that make bringing in outside help the right call.