What do you outsource first?

2011/07/27 6:00 AM

Wearing all the hats when getting your business going can become very tiresome…..ok exhausting!! But knowing what to outsource first can be equally confusing. When I launched my first handbag line, I was doing it all from designing, running my production, sales, shipping, trying to do marketing but failing miserably, and managing my other company which was supporting me and the bag business!

When I finally started to make a bit of money and had consistent orders coming in, I decided that hiring out shipping was my best bet. They didn't need to know anything about the handbag business and if they were able bodied, could take a load off that was bogging me down. Since I wasn't big enough to move to a third party warehouse, I hired a young college guy part time. I felt so free……honestly I got back about 16 hours a week that I'd spent packing boxes and could actually do things to bring in more money like sales!

I ask my Entreprenette Experts to give their 2 cents on what to outsource first to make your company a mean selling machine! Check out their responses below and let me know your thoughts.

What are you planning to outsource first?

Tagged: Blogging, business, Launch Tips, Manufacturing, Marketing, Public Relations, Sales, Social Media, Virtual Assistants, Wholesale

Written by Sarah Shaw

There are 9 comments

grace wieber says:

July 27, 2011 at 11:57 am

Invaluable!
You presented alternatives that I had not considered.
Thank You.

Dawn Damico says:

July 27, 2011 at 9:59 pm

Great list!

Another tip: when you are preparing the instructions for your outsourcer – save the screenshots, videos and writting information so that if you ever have to train someone else, you don’t have to prepare your instructions a 2nd time. I save everything! (electronically of course!)

Also – great tip for outsourcing HR so that you don’t get in trouble – also, good for payroll as well (even if you’re just paying yourself a salary from your coporation. They file everything for you and keep you out of trouble.

Dawn Damico
Your Research Diva

Angela Neal says:

July 28, 2011 at 2:55 am

Great article. Thanks for including me. Hope it is useful for folks.

Angela
http://www.angelaneal.com

Ro says:

November 2, 2011 at 4:18 am

This is really a useful post. Hope everyone will get some good Idea about outsourcing. Thanks for your post

Virtual Assistant from India for £299 pm,

jamal says:

November 2, 2011 at 5:24 am

The first question you need to ask yourself is what exactly are you going to outsource as your immediate priority?

It’s amazing how many people realize that outsourcing is important yet haven’t taken a look at what they actually need to get done to eliminate their most pressing constraint, and what parts of the process necessary to get that job done can be outsourced.

Internet businesses contain all kinds of parts, most of which can be handled by other people, however handing them over to others all at once won’t achieve your goal, you will just make yourself broke from all the fees you have to pay your outsourcers. More Information visit guys
Virtual Assistant from India for £299 pm,

Emma Blackburn says:

November 18, 2011 at 7:46 am

WOW…thank you so much for this post. Some really useful tips…

Roro says:

March 2, 2012 at 12:32 am

Helpful Post!
I have to agree that you have to figure out what things that you need to focus on and set aside the things that could be done by someone else that takes a lot of your time. Time is worth more than money. You need to budget your time wisely and be productive. Spending a little money in order for you to save more makes perfect sense.
Outsourcing can surely make you save money but even though there are lots of benefits of it, I have to admit that there are also some disadvantages. One example is there’s no way to be sure if the person you’ve hired will do the best job. Unless you have an effective hiring strategy that’ll give you assurance then there’s nothing left to do but trust him and hope for the best results.

When is enough, enough? – INNOVATRIBE says:

July 10, 2014 at 5:36 am

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