Becoming an entrepreneur is a serious decision. It is not the typically planned path and it is not the direction prescribed by much of society, although it is becoming trendier. The point is, you only need to become an entrepreneur because you want to.
It is something you’ve desired until you actually got involved in it. Having your own business where you can spend all your time thinking about your artisan coffee, the app you’re creating, your fashion boutique, the accounting of the business, sending out invoices, and managing payroll. Those last few things were probably not on your list of desires. They are not the most exciting aspects of the entrepreneurial life, but they are realities.
You got into business to do the things you wanted, not because of all this extra nonsense. The added necessities of running a business can make the difference between talking about the business you’re proud of or that thing you tried to do once.
Here is a list of four overlooked things you may want to think about outsourcing so that you can focus on what you care about.
1 – Bookkeeping
This is first because it’s a big one. A small mistake can have you turning through the books for hours trying to clean things up and get things right. If bookkeeping is not your thing, there is a laundry list of mistakes you could make that will cause serious problems. The good news is, there are also plenty of solutions for bookkeeping issues.
If you don’t have the time to commit to solving these problems yourself, the best solution is to make them somebody else’s problem. Hire someone you can count on to get the job done and free your mind to focus on the business tasks that need your attention.
2 – Payroll
If you are still a business of one, payroll is not a problem for you. But, if you have even one employee, it immediately becomes a matter that you don’t want to mess with. Late paychecks are grounds for a lawsuit. A budding entrepreneur already needs to wear enough hats, there is no sense in adding a lawyer to that mix.
A strong case can be made for hiring people to handle many roles in your business, but payroll may be the easiest case to be made. If you can’t handle it, get it off your plate. The people working to make your business operations need to be compensated.
If you give them a reason to be unhappy, they will take it and it can destroy the integrity of your operation. Playing games with payroll is gambling with the life of the business you’ve worked hard to build.
3 – Marketing and Sales
These are really two different things but, for the sake of brevity, we will group them into one. Marketing is the process through which you attract attention to your business. Sales are the ability to convert that attention into revenue for your business. One without the other leaves your business exposed.
You might get enough attention to find some eager buyers that don’t need to be sold but, chances are, there won’t be enough to support the entirety of the business. You might have good enough sales to convert a high percentage of the attention, but a high percentage of a small amount is still a small amount.
A passionate business owner might be able to handle one of these two things, but maybe not both. Marketing takes a lot of creative skills and a salesperson needs to be a true advocate of the product. Do what you can and get help where you need it.
4 – Tax Services
You may have grown up in a household where the family did their own taxes. You may have grown into the same habits.
But, once you begin to be taxed differently, there are more complications to sorting out how the government gets its share. In short, it is a big drain on your time that is better left to the professionals.
Outsourcing While Running A Business
Let’s call it what it is: the majority of the things you don’t want to do in business often revolve around money.
Bringing your business in, accounting for it, managing it, and handling it properly are hassles, but important ones. You can complain if you like, but money is the life of your business and without it, you don’t have one.
