As a small business owner, one must wear multiple hats, and play multiple roles in order to keep the running costs at bay. When you are on a limited budget, you cannot afford to hire individual resources for every aspect of your business.
Hiring a resources is not only expensive, in case of a small business, it is sort of a boundation. Especially if you hire someone for something you don’t need that often. For this reason, most business owners tend to take up several tasks on themselves. While it is the most productive approach in the initial stages of a business, doing everything by yourself is not a practical at all.
So, what options do you have right now?
Enter Outsourcing
Outsourcing has recently become a hot trend among business owners, thanks to the World Wide Web. From virtual assistants to outsourcing whole departments of their businesses, large scale businesses have been outsourcing their processes for a long time. Small businesses however, have been reluctant to the ideal, mainly due to the fear of losing control. Some credit of this reluctance also goes to the misconception that outsourcing is expensive business.
On the contrary, outsourcing can be one of the most cost effective solutions for your business. First of all, there is no commitment. If your requirement for instance, is for someone that can make the bank runs for you (more on this later!), you don’t have to pay them on a monthly basis. Instead, you can hire a security banking service that will give you much more freedom and flexibility. Unlike a regular employee, outsourced resources work on task basis, and charge you only for a specific pre-determined task, instead of a monthly salary. For this reason, outsourcing is a cost-effective way to shed off some workload, while enhancing overall efficiency.
Following are the three general areas of outsourcing, using which, you can supplement the sustainable growth of your small business:
Cash In Transit
If your business deals in cash, this is a must-have service for you. Cash in transit services give you two primary advantages:
- They free up your time, or the time of your most trusted employee. It is a fact that your time can be better used in something other than bank runs. The flexibility offered by cash delivery services these days is extremely convenient.
- Carrying large amounts of cash in public is not safe. Not only is your money at risk, you also risk the safety of the person carrying the cash. Cash delivery services offer a safe way to transport your money. Plus, most legitimate companies offer insurance on their services. This means, you bear no risk, and your money remains safe.
Digital marketing
In a time when the World is going online, it is only fair your business does the same. However, the online marketing landscape can be a little overwhelming for beginners. If you are still in the early startup phase of your business, it is advisable to outsource your digital marketing to an agency.
This way, your business will enjoy the visibility it deserves online, while you learn the ropes. The best part is, there are several reputable agencies that specifically cater to small and/or local businesses.
Payroll Processing
If you are not from an accounting background, you probably hate payroll processing. Apart from being boring, payroll processing is a meticulous and time consuming task. Outsourcing your payroll processing to an online service is not only convenient, but since it is done through an automated algorithm, the margin for human error is eliminated.
Conclusion
Business owners are often worried about losing control when they think about outsourcing. But as you can see from the above example, outsourcing can be utilised as a tool of gain more control over your business operations by freeing up valuable time.