Congratulations! If you're reading this, you've decided to get outsourcing to work in your business.
That's an excellent decision – you'll be able to free time to focus on the parts of your business that you enjoy and give you the greatest leverage, while handing off routine tasks to someone else.
But if you're like most people who read this, you've tried outsourcing
before and it didn't work. Maybe you've tried it dozens of times.
This time it will work.
Here's why...
This toolkit gives you a system – a proven system – for making
outsourcing work in your business.
Here's what you need to do:
1. Understand what you can outsource and what you can't
I can almost guarantee that the work you want most to outsource is going to be hard to outsource. It probably requires deep knowledge about your business or your products or your customers to do correctly.
That's true for almost anyone.
So how do you make this work?
You get someone working for you who has the potential to do the kind of
work you want done, once they learn enough about your business.
Then you find productive work – work that moves your business ahead – that
they can do while they are going up that learning curve. Preferably work
that helps them move up that curve – in other words, work that teaches them
about your business and your products and your customers.
That's the trick. Right there...
You don't start by outsourcing the hard stuff. You start with projects that are easy to outsource.
Then as they acquire the knowledge they need to do the work you really want them to do, you start having them do that.
The first set of templates in the toolkit is all about helping you learn what works and what doesn't, and helping you think about outsourcing in a way that will let you use it effectively in your business.
2. Make sure you get the right person
Bringing someone on board to help in your business can be hugely time-consuming.
A lot of people need someone so badly they skip steps and end up with the wrong person. Then they lose time and money, and have to go through the whole process all over again.
The trick here is...
If you want outsourcing to work you need to find someone with the right personality, skills and experience to be successful doing the work you want them to do.
Once you get someone who is a good match, you can train them.
If you get someone who isn't a good match, it doesn't matter how much they learn, they will never do a really good job. And you'll deal with a lot of errors and frustration along the way.
The second set of templates helps you find the right person and bring them into your business.
3. Get them productive quickly
Most small business owners can't afford to have someone sitting around while they learn. You need your assistant helping from the first day, doing work that helps propel your business forward.
But it can be really hard to come up with projects that are useful, don't take a ton of your time, and are appropriate for someone who doesn't yet know anything about your business.
The trick here is...
Use the “Easy Project” worksheets to get your assistant doing useful work while learning. We've already defined the projects and laid out the steps to follow.
These are projects that can be easily outsourced. And with the instructions already in place, they're an easy starting point for both of you.
The third set of templates helps you choose good starting projects and get your assistant the information needed to do them successfully.
4. Get the work done right
The first time someone does a project for you, it is almost always not exactly right. Sometimes it is close; often it is pretty far off.
That's frustrating. And that's where a lot of people give up – deciding that it is just easier to keep doing things themselves.
But you don't need to give up. There are a lot of techniques that help you get better results.
The trick here?
Part of it is training.
There's a lot of knowledge that needs to flow from your head to your assistant's. You need ways to educate people who work for you about your business and what you want done with minimal time and effort on your part.
Part of it is finding lightweight ways to monitor work and manage people who work for you, so you catch problems early and get back on track fast.
Part is using technology – software that makes it easier to work together when you are in different locations.
Part is having regular discussions about what's working and what's not, so you can fix problems and keep moving forward.
The fourth set of templates shares tips and techniques that help in all of these areas – best practices for outsourcing and working remotely.
The biggest trick?
Stick with it.
Follow the system, use the templates and techniques. Ask questions – we're here to help. And let us know what other templates you need. We're adding more regularly.