Stop outsourcing the wrong things to the wrong people.

When you're building a small business, outsourcing the tasks you don't love doing can be an absolute blessing. But done badly the consequences are a massive drain your time, money energy, and overall motivation.

Today one of my full-time team members resigned due to an intensely personal situation needing urgent attention. I empathise, am understanding but it also it means I need to get into gear quickly and replace them. 

They are an important cog in the wheel of how my business runs.  

But rather than panicking, as I would have a few years ago, to be perfectly frank, apart from feeling sad (for them) it didn't faze me much at all.

Because apart from the fact I will miss them, I know I have great processes in place, and know it will be a relatively seamless process to replace them and train someone new.

The need for this is growing day by day

My main focus professionally is empowering people to do better marketing - and whether it's through my agency or through my programs, there's usually some outsourcing component required for most people.

I jotted down the points for this article the other day as the inspiration came to me (in the shower, which is where a lot of my thoughts crystallise) , and I had intended to sit on it for a while. 

However today's events (plus some conversations in a coaching program I'm a part of with other business owners) prompted me to share these thoughts now, given it's something so many people are challenged with.

And note that these points are equally applicable whether you have permanent team members or whether you hire outside help on an ad-hoc basis.

Especially when it comes to your marketing. 

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[ Now in the interests of full transparency, I now have an experienced HR manager who does most of this for me, but for nearly two decades I did it myself.  

I've hired hundreds, probably thousands of contractors over my 20+ years of running a (primarily-remote) business.

The vast majority being marketing professionals and marketing & admin support - given I have a boutique marketing agency. 

However last year I finally realised it was no longer serving me to manage staff and contractors individually.

So even as a very small agency (the way I like it!), instead of hiring another marketer I actually hired an HR person, to help me manage my marketers better. 

Definitely up there with one of the best decisions I've ever made.]

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Outsourcing can make or break you

I've read countless stories of people who've outsourced so much of their business, to the point where their contractor knows more about their business than they do, and they've been left out to dry when a vital contractor quit.

I also see people trying to outsource their marketing (fair enough, they're not specialists) but the biggest problem I see is they're shopping around for bargain-basement prices - for something that's mission-critical to their brand and business.

And that's not just bad for business, it's bad for you. 

Because you have the stress of picking up the pieces and getting things back on track.

Now's the time to get it right

You need to get the foundations right before you go all-in on outsourcing, especially when it comes to your marketing when things are evolving at lightning speed.

So to help you on your way I'll give you the top tips I've learned over the years and are the bedrock of what I have seen work effectively.

 
1. Outsource the right things to the right people

In the current gig economy, with platforms that will take anything and everything off your hands, and a growing number of remote workers, it can be a race to the bottom when it comes to pricing.

So before we get granular on how to actually outsource correctly, you want to ensure you get the right person for the right task from the start.

Understand the difference between consultants/specialists, implementers/managers, and implementers task-doers, and be prepared to pay accordingly.

So here are some quick-fire tips to make sure you do things in a way that's going to set you up for success.

The Expert

A true specialist should be able to tell you

- what you need
- why you need it
- who should do it and
- approximately how much to spend on it,
- what ROI you should expect from it

and should be able to back it up with evidence and experience.

They should have a solid track record, case studies and testimonials from (real) people who have implemented their advice and had good results. 

Of course this is going to cost you more upfront.

But good advice before you start on a long journey can avoid you ending up at the wrong destination. 

You will generally pay for the quality of advice you get. And you will likely get way business benefit from an hour with a true expert than you will investing weeks of low-cost rates with someone who doesn't have the expertise to give you direction. 

The Integrator (Task-Assigner)

When it comes to integrators (and managers) there are a range of capabilities and skill-sets.

There are high-level experienced integrators. It's a fast-growing and much-needed speciality, especially in the online business space.

The best ones are those who have grown into the roles and have done it for years, working their way up the ranks - who can tell you what you need then go and do it.

They will be at the upper end of the pay scale because they are worth their money in gold in the value they'll bring to your business. They may even manage a team of other implementers if they're that good.

They are likely to be mid-tier in terms of pricing. Not as high as a recognised expert, but it's fair they are compensated for the experience and expertise they bring to the task.  

And there are those that are riding on the bandwagon of understanding a single piece of technology and suddenly purport to be a specialist in their field.

Then you have capable people (sometimes not-so capable) who can only do as well as the instructions they are set.  

The Implementer (Task-Doer)

You can also find very capable people who are honest, reliable and have a great work ethic, and these can be valuable members of your team.

There are also plenty of qualified, educated hard-working people who have potential but haven't yet had the chance to develop their strategic and decision-making muscles yet, but who can grow into that role when given the chance. 

But enjoying this benefit takes some organisation and preparation upfront.

Ideally you have a mix of 2-3 of these (or 1-2, if you're capable in one of these areas yourself), and so here are some quick-fire suggestions to ensure you are delegating the right tasks to the right people. 

2. Don't outsource something you have no idea about. 

When it comes to marketing, don't ask a task-doer how they can help you with your marketing. They will tell you what they can capably DO but that doesn't mean it's what you NEED.

Instead get the right advice upfront and be confident in what objectives you are looking to achieve and how you're going to measure the success of that, before you rush off to delegate it.  (Refer Point 1 above!)

If you have no idea what you need, or what the measure of success will be, how will you know if your outsourcing is successful?

Yet so many people do this, finding someone who promises them the world, only to be left with a mess to clean up. Feeling burned and frustrating after wasting money, and not having anything to show for it.

Similarly, with your internal processes - whether it's for administration, finance, marketing implementation, reporting, HR or anything, you need to know how to do the task before you outsource it, so you can give proper instruction and "set the standard".

People can only perform as well as the brief they are given. 

This rings true in marketing agency world but it is equally true when it comes to your team or your contractors.

If you give a sloppy brief, and are not clear about exactly what you want done, and to what standard, how can you expect someone to do it to your satisfaction?

You might not love doing it at first, but it will be well worth the investment to get familiar with it yourself, so that you can sure when it's delegated it's set up and implemented the right way. 

Before I delegated many of the systems and processes for one of my programs, I spent time fully understanding the processes I wanted for each step, and the gold standard for how things were done.

Sure there were mistakes along the way, but most of the time they were "on me" for not having communicated as clearly as I should have - but because I knew the process I could then help us work out the best way to get that done each month.

Which brings me to my next point. 

3. You need SOPs to follow.

If you want to outsource anything long-term, invest in robust SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures). 

These are not quick to set up but will be a huge asset to your business as you grow. It will make replacing staff members or contractors a gazillion times easier because you have a job description and process for each task to follow. 

These will vary according to the type of business you run, and I have them both for my marketing agency, as well as my online education and development programs.

For example for one of my businesses, a membership, I use an administrative assistant in a way that enables me to run my membership in just 8 hours a month. 

And it's a similar story for my other programs and my agency as well. It's the only way I could continue running more than one business with a young family.

There are no two-ways about it, if you want to scale and grow, you need processes. And tried and true tested ones that you can easily adapt to your own business. 

You can start from scratch and build them out yourself, or you can learn from someone who's done them and made all the mistakes - save yourself some time and money. 

I recommend a combination of both because it's always going to be a matter of taking something "that works" and then adjusting it to the context of your own business operations. 

4. You need systems for holding people accountable to your processes.

So you have SOPs for them to follow for your key tasks. Great!

Now they are accountable to a system, not to you personally, and this removes a great weight of instructing them and chasing them and managing them. 

It's also much easier to step in and correct course BEFORE something goes wrong. 

But key is to understand what is your process for making sure people stick to processes (a bit meta, I know) but it's super important and will relieve so much stress for you as a business owner.

Marketing is the place that most people find particularly challenging because they aren't experts themselves, and aren't sure how to hold people to account. 

And because this is such an integral part of modern marketing, it's also a large part of what I teach and how I train my students on inside my Thought Leadership Accelerator.  

Because marketing is a team effort these days so regardless of what business you're in you're going to need some support in some capacity if you want to grow and be known. 

But the bottom line is whatever processes you decide will best serve your business, refer people back to the process, not to your subjective opinion. 

It may be difficult to get right at first, (and definitely takes commitment and discipline!) but when you get used to it, you're truly setting yourself up for success and the process itself does the heavy lifting for you, rather than you having to get involved. 

5. Understand what makes your team tick.

This is the most important part of a good remote team, and the bit so many people overlook. Especially for contractors or outsourcing particular task-focused elements of the business. 

You need to understand how to onboard them, set the right expectations from the outset, but in a way that EXCITES people about working for you and your business.

Otherwise what motivates them to stay connected with you? 

When another opportunity comes along that offers more money or a change in scenery they'll be the first to disappear and you'll be left to pick up the pieces.

Remember regardless of what level of task you're outsourcing, behind every task is a person, with feelings, dreams and aspirations.

How is working for you going to get them closer to their own goals? How are you going to support them.

How are you going to acknowledge their work, make them feel like they're "king of the world" and achieving great things through working with you.

Do you have the type of relationship with them where they'll be open and honest about how they're feeling, or will they clam up and hide it from you?

In my own experience, checking in with them completely separate to work, just as people, to find out how they're going, and what's happening in their world, and how they're feeling about their job etc. simply from a place of wanting to understand and connect with them - goes a long way. 

Five Steps to Freedom

Follow these five principles, it will take some work and a new way of thinking at first, but done consistently (by you!) you have the ability to turn your outsourcing experience from a chore and pain, into a joy.

It's also the foundation of an empowering experience for both parties. 

One that can be so liberating and rewarding for everyone involved.

Personally and professionally. And that's what we all want, right!

It's made the difference for me and I'd love to see you experience the benefits of it too.

If you have any questions feel free to post them below, and I'll gladly answer.

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If you're interested in getting your hands on my entire system of outsourcing and processes (including 20+ SOPs and video training we use internally, which you can use to onboard and upskill your support team) just message me directly and I'll let you know how I can help.