
As entrepreneurs and business owners, we all have our own strengths and weaknesses. And if you want to be highly successful, you must figure out a way to play up your strengths and offset your weaknesses. Outsourcing is one of the best ways to compensate for areas where you lack skill or experience.
How to Outsource Your Weaknesses
Outsourcing weaknesses isn’t just a fancy term to throw around in meetings or a way to sound smart in your next mastermind group. It’s a tangible strategy that you can use to scale your business and grow the bottom line. But where do you start? Here are some ideas:
1. Identify Your Weaknesses
Before you can outsource, you need to figure out where your weaknesses are. Start by making a list of tasks you find difficult, time-consuming, or simply don’t enjoy doing. Maybe you struggle with bookkeeping, social media management, or graphic design. These are tasks that likely drain your energy and time – resources that could be better spent on the areas of your business where you excel.
Ask yourself a few key questions:
- What tasks are you consistently putting off?
- Which areas of your business feel overwhelming or stressful?
- Where do you feel out of your depth or lacking expertise?
By identifying these weaknesses, you’ll have a clear idea of what to outsource so you can focus on your strengths and the tasks that directly contribute to your business’s success.
2. Hire Experts for Specialized Tasks
Once you’ve identified the areas where you’re struggling, it’s time to bring in the experts. Outsourcing to professionals who specialize in the places where you lack skills ensures that those tasks are handled efficiently and with a high level of quality.
For example, if you’re spending hours each week trying to manage your finances, hiring a bookkeeper or accountant can save you time and eliminate costly mistakes. If marketing isn’t your strong suit, outsourcing to a marketing agency or social media manager can help grow your online presence and attract more customers.
The key is to hire people who know what they’re doing, so you can focus on the areas where you provide the most value – whether that’s sales, product development, or customer service.
3. Focus on High-Value Activities
As a business owner, your time is valuable. You should be spending it on activities that directly contribute to your company’s growth and profitability. Once you’ve outsourced your weaknesses, you’ll have more time to focus on high-value activities that move the needle.
These are tasks like:
- Building relationships with key clients or partners
- Developing new products or services
- Networking and expanding your reach
- Strategizing for long-term growth
- Improving customer experience
By letting go of the tasks you’re not good at, you can put more energy into the areas that have a direct impact on your bottom line. The result? You’ll be able to deliver more value to your customers and grow your business more quickly.
One great example is a landlord who spends all her time responding to maintenance requests and meeting contractors at properties to deal with things like roof leaks or appliance breakdowns. By outsourcing to a property manager, you can recoup this time and actually get better results.
4. Use Technology to Automate Tasks
Outsourcing isn’t just about hiring people – it’s also about using technology to automate tasks that don’t require human oversight. Automation tools can handle many repetitive tasks, saving you time and reducing the need to hire extra staff. This is particularly useful for tasks like email marketing, invoicing, customer support, and project management.
For example, tools like Mailchimp or ConvertKit can automate your email marketing campaigns, allowing you to send out newsletters and promotions without manual input. Accounting software like QuickBooks or Xero can automate invoicing, expense tracking, and even payroll, freeing you from the tedious task of managing your books. For customer support, chatbots can handle basic inquiries, freeing up your team (or yourself) to focus on more complex customer issues.
5. Build a Reliable Team
While outsourcing can be a powerful way to offload tasks, building a reliable team is essential for long-term success. As your business grows, you’ll need to build a team of professionals you trust to handle both the tasks you don’t enjoy and the ones that require specific expertise. This could be a combination of freelancers, contractors, and full-time employees, depending on your business’s needs.
When hiring, look for people who complement your strengths. If you’re a visionary who’s great at big-picture thinking but struggles with day-to-day operations, hire someone who excels in organization and project management. If you’re great at selling but struggle with customer support, bring on a team member who can manage client relationships.
Setting Yourself Up For Success
The typical entrepreneur goes through a pretty typical lifecycle. They start thinking they need to be in control of everything. Whether based on ego or a simple desire for control, most entrepreneurs begin with the notion that they need to be the one doing the actual work in order to make sure it’s done correctly. But then something interesting begins to happen. Sometimes it takes a few months or a few years, but most people reach a point where they realize they are actually the greatest limiting factor in their business.
Once you realize that you need to build a team of people who can offset your weaknesses (while allowing you to focus on your strengths), good things start to happen. Growth occurs, and you will finally start to build a lifestyle business that works.
Let this article serve as motivation to take a step toward outsourcing. Whether you’re a landlord with a dozen rental properties, a CEO of a tech startup, or a one-man band running an ecommerce website, there are always opportunities to surround yourself with people who can offset your weaknesses and play to your strengths. It’s up to you to take action!