Do you have too much to do? Here are six tasks that you can outsource
If you're overwhelmed by a lengthy list of tasks, it might be time to bring in reinforcements. Below are six tasks that you can outsource to a virtual or freelance assistant.
As an entrepreneur, your plates are always full.
The projects just keep on growing. You're swamped with emails, you have 17,17 Excel spreadsheets open at the same time, you haven't looked at your social media alerts for a week, and you keep catching typos whenyou write blog posts.
Your to-do list is too long for just one person. There's no way to tackle it all by yourself and that's fine.
The time has come to bring in reinforcements. In particular Virtual assistants (VAs) and freelancers.
By outsourcing repetitive work, you can save the time you need to focus on growing your business. From data entry to social media management There are a lot of tasks you're juggling that can be outsourced to third-party.
In this article, we'll cover six tasks which you could outsource to save time (and your mind).
But first, is outsourcing reallyworth it?
And this is the reason why.
Why outsource tasks for a virtual assistant, or freelancer?
And that's especially true when you consider this mind-boggling fact: People tend to spend 2.8 hours per day working on tasks that are productive.
If you're a business owner who is full-time the number of employees is more for the person who works full-time. However, chances are you're still working on some projects that aren't making the most effective way to use your time.
If you decide to outsource your low-growth, repetitive tasks to the freelancers or to a virtual assistant (VA) You can get back time to focus on tasks that will grow your business.
Hire an expert take on the work you don't have time for (or really don't enjoy doing).
You can save money and time when the hiring of a full-time employee.
The benefits of this are the reason 70% of small- and medium-sized companies (SMBs) have engaged a freelancer. 81% of them saying that they intend to continue to employ freelancers.
Employing a virtual team such as freelancers and VAs has been proven to boost productivity.
Researchers have found remote workers can be up to 13.5 percentage more productive than office workers.
In the end outsourcing your work to a freelancer or VA could help you get the most difficult, lowest-growth business tasks off your plate, freeing up your time to concentrate on growing your business.
Now, there's just one question left to be answered What tasks are you able to delegate?
6 jobs to outsource if you're short on time
#1: Organization and admin tasks
When we think of outsourcing tasks to a virtual assistant They usually consider outsourcing time-consuming work like data entry and transcription. Those can be a significant part of VAs tasks.
But VAs can help entrepreneurs with a variety of tasks, which is probably why the worldwide outsourcing market -- which includes VAs -- was 92.5 billion dollars in 2019.
The most popular VA jobs are:
Management of calendars and scheduling
Data entry
Project management
Event planning
Email marketing
Follow-ups and outreach for PR
Invoicing, managing accounts payables, and expensing
Support for the customer, such as managing accounts on social media
Management of CRM-related software
Analysis of competitors
Transcription of audio and video documents
Vendor management
Webinar management
Social media marketing
Phew. If the list of skills seems to span a wide range of capabilities, it's due to the fact that VAs make up some of the team members with the greatest versatility out there.
When you look for a VA ensure that you are aware of the tasks you would like the VA to concentrate onas well as having enough money to pay them fairly according to their expertise.
The present prices of VAs on the market are:
$25-40 per hour for general admin skills
For advanced abilities
A minimum of $50 per hour is required to learn specialized skills
While we wait, let's look at some other specific tasks to outsource -such as bookkeeping and accounting.
#2: Bookkeeping and accounting
If you're like me and are aren'ta numbers person -- there's a hundred different activities you'd rather not do than crunch numbers.
If you're making less than 5 figures for your business and don't have a ton of costs to keep track of, you can probably manage your business' finances using an application like QuickBooks .
If you earn more than that, hiring an accountant who is freelance can help simplify the task of balancing the books off your plate and simplify your financial management.
Accounting is among the most often outsourcing business functions .
And there's a good reason why. Accounting is among the main tasks of small businesses -- especially in light of the fact the fact that nearly 29% of new businesses are unsuccessful because they're out of cash.
Estimate, manage the quarterly tax bill, and manage
Make sure you control your cash flow
Keep track of and follow the
In contrast to accounting software and accounting software, an accountant or bookkeeper will give you individualized advice and respond to your queries in greater details since they're aware of your tax requirements.
Some bookkeepers even specialize in helping professionals in specific fields. As an example, Friedman, Kannenberg & Company, PC offers accounting services to musicians and bands, as well as music equipment dealers, as well as music school.
If you want to find an accountant who understands the ins and outs of your field, Google "accountant specializing in [your industry]".
As a company owner, accounting and bookkeeping services are among the first that you ought to consider outsourcing (unless you really enjoy analyzing tax laws (I won't judge).
In addition to numbers-heavy tasks like data entry and accounting You can also outsource your tech and creative work too.
#3: Web development and design
It can take people around 0.05 seconds to form an opinion regarding your website.
It's the reason having a reliable web developer on your side matters.
Your site must look appealing and attractive, as well as easy to use, and also informative. Also, in this world of instant feedback the website must be swift.
26.9% of ecommerce site visitors will wait less than four seconds a page to load, and 45.4 percent of those who visited stated that they were less likely to purchase items if page loading speeds were slower than expected.
Also, you must ensure that your site is mobile-friendly. Traffic from mobile devices accounts around half all web traffic worldwide , and visitors who visit your site from mobile devices are nearly five times as likely to quit your site if it isn't mobile-friendly.
Additionally, Google announced in the year 2018 that they're increasing the rankings for mobile-optimized sites within their results for mobile searches So having a mobile-optimized or responsive site can help your search engine optimizationtoo.
(You can check your site's present mobile-friendlyness using Google's Mobile-Friendly Checker Tool .)
Outsourcing your website tasks to a seasoned web developer and designer can help you create a website which loads fast, functions flawlessly on mobile devices and is in line with your company's image.
Where can you find web developers and designers who can make your site shine?
The top sites to find web-based developers include:
The Website Builder allows you create a website to sell an unlimited amount of digital goods including online classes, memberships, and digital downloads -without any needing to type in the code once to troubleshoot an unresponsive WordPress template, or even install a confusing plugin.
Have a look at the website Mallika Malhotra , brand expert and photographer. It was built using the site editor of's:
Mallika has customized her site to match her branding and design without the need for an architect or developer to build it from scratch.
Also, we take care of mobile optimization, site speeds, and all of the other technical hassles as well, which means that Mallika as well as you are able to focus on selling and creating products instead.
A well-designed, simple-to-use site is an absolute must, however, without great content, it can only get you to a certain point. Luckily, you can also outsourcing copywriting and content writing.
#4: Copywriting, content and writing
Making and carrying out a successful content marketing strategy takes a lot of time particularly when you consider that blogs typically take 3 hour and 45 minutes to compose.
If you're looking to put out weekly content, that's an extra four hours every week, which most solopreneurs can't afford.
Plus, different types of content call for different styles of writing.
There are a lot of experienced, skilled freelance copywriters and content marketers out there to help you produce content that speaks to your audience and drives sales.
You can outsource writing tasks that are of any kind, which includes:
Blogging
Writing press releases
SEO services, like search engine optimization, link building, as well as backlinks
To find competent freelance content writers Jodi Harris, director of content strategy and editorial at the Content Marketing Institute, recommends these tactics :
Reach out to your professional networks and ask for writers they recommend.
Make the task available on a writers' job site that focuses on freelancer-based services such as the Upwork job board and LinkedIn's Pro-Finder .
Work with a creative staffing agency or content marketing platform such as Contently . (This choice comes with a higher price tag, however.)
If you do keep writing content in-house, you can be sure that the content on your blog and website is top-quality through outsourcing editing and proofreading methods.
#5 5: Editing (writing, video, and podcasts)
Your audience wants to see (and hear), read, and watch amazing material from you. People enjoy the content they consume.
Take podcasts, for example. 64% of Americans were listening to some kind of audio streaming (like podcasts) in 2018, with the weekly listeners to online audio reported an average of 17 hours listening time per week.
This is a huge amount of material your audience could potentially enjoy from you. And plenty of information you can use to gain the trust of your viewers, their loyaltyand even dollars. Yet, content that isn't of high quality is unlikely to convert viewers into customers.
That's where editors come in. An experienced editor can be the difference between good content and greatcontent.
In written content, editors can assist writers to sound at their finest, convey their message across clearly and steer clear of frequent writing errors .
It's also possible to use tools such as Grammarly as an extra check, but it should never entirely replace human editors regardless of whether you're proofreading yourself. Grammarly's AI occasionally misses mistakes (or detects errors when they aren't).
Based on the type of content you're seeking -- and the amount you're willing to spend- podcast producers can help with everything from reducing background noise to offering an editorial perspective that can help the show tell a more compelling story.
The last but not least is that editing video is another tedious task that outsourcing may take off your plate.
To find freelance editors for all types of content, visit freelance marketplaces such as the Upwork as well as Freelancer.com .
Remember this old adage that you only get what you buy.
Do not choose freelancers who boast of the lowest prices, seek out an experienced editor. They'll ensure you receive the highest quality service -- and will save you lots of time (and the stress of) later on.
Like video and audio editing, our final task of the list requires a lot of skill and patience to master, making it an ideal candidate to outsource.
#6 graphic design
Let's start by putting this out of the way: Photoshop is hard. (And I'm not saying that because I got an A in my Graphic Design class.)
If you're a small company owner, it's likely that you're not able to be an expert in graphic design. But visual content is important to branding and marketing online.
Actually, as much as 90 percent of purchase decisions depend on images as well as 40% of marketers reported that their original graphic helped them reach their goals in marketing the previous year.
Working with a freelance graphic designer could help create a visual identity for your site, downloads, social media profiles, and much more.
Freelance graphic design deliverables might include:
Logos
Infographics
PowerPoint templates
Design and layout of ebooks
In order to save time, you can create slide and ebook templates that you could use for a number of times, which means you don't need to make the assets again each time.
For example, turning your data-heavy blog article into an infographic can make your content more accessible for readers to digest -- and infographics get shared and liked via social networks 3 times faster than any other type of media.
If you're looking for a graphic artist look into design marketplaces like DesignCrowd and, naturally, UpWork's design section .
The two websites link businesses with thousands of designers who are freelance, that can design anything from email and web design templates to packaging and t-shirt design.
Here's the bottom line: Like all of the tasks we've covered the past few days Visual content is a vital element of developing your company and one you don't have to tackle alone.
Let these six tasks be outsourced for a shorter list of tasks
"There aren't enough hours to fill a time" is a common cliche that has an reason. It's truthful, especially if you're an entrepreneur trying to build a business single-handedly.
Working with a freelancer or virtual assistant could aid you to regain your time. For a quick overview, here are six areas to think about outsourcing:
Organization and administrative work, such as data entry, scheduling management, transcription
The bookkeeping and accounting process keeps you in the loop about your tax and cash flow requirements
Web design and development for creating a UX/UI that the audience will appreciate
Copywriting and content writing making sure your content marketing sales material stands out other copywriting and content writing (and the Google results for searches)
Podcast, video, as well as editing written content, which means you won't need to fret about spelling mistakes or poor audio
Design and content that is visually appealing to show off your branding identity and draw potential customers' attention
Asking for help can seem difficult, and often there's lots of pressure placed on entrepreneurs to do it all independently. But there's no shame in outsourcing work so that you can get back to doing what you do best -developing and expanding your business.