Stressed about your to-do list? 5 times you should outsource tasks

When you’re self-employed (like me), you tend to feel like you need to do everything for your business yourself. After all, who else is going to do it? But some tasks are outside your expertise and are better left to others who have the skills, experience, and interest in doing them well. Even in large companies, sometimes a specialized task should be outsourced to an expert. 

You have a job that you’re great at, but spending your time on unrelated tasks gets in the way of doing that job. And that can mean less income for your business! When you find yourself spending a lot of time on tasks that don’t pay, think about what it’s worth to you and your business to have somebody else take care of them. In other words, how much is your time worth to you?

Almost any task can be outsourced, and these days the “gig economy” makes it easy to find professionals in specific niches to tackle every job on your list. (For more on how to find the best contractor for a given job, see my post on finding the perfect freelancer.)

So how do you know which tasks to keep on your own to-do list, and which ones you should be paying someone else to take off your hands? Here are some times when you should think about outsourcing a task.

1. You keep putting it off: You know you need to get it done, but every time you think about it you conveniently have something more urgent to take care of. Procrastination is a sign of something you’d really rather not do. Maybe that’s because you aren’t the right person to do it. Perhaps it’s time to get a virtual assistant to help organize your digital filing system or input all of your expenses into your bookkeeping software. Or maybe you need a specialist to set up a stellar LinkedIn page for your business.
2. You don’t know where to start: If you’re staring at blank screen, you aren’t getting that task done. Sometimes when you need to do something you haven’t done before, it can seem like an overwhelming project. Getting started requires having some idea how to approach the problem, and chances are you’re going to waste a lot of time trying to figure it out yourself. Whether it’s organizing your financial records, writing job descriptions, or building an attractive company website, letting someone familiar with the process deal with it will give you much better results and let you focus on your job.
3. You need it yesterday: When you have a deadline that seems impossible to meet, it’s time to call in reinforcements. For example, don’t stay up all night trying to put together a proposal that will end up being riddled with mistakes because you rushed through it. Get a proposal writer to help! You’ll be much more likely to win the business if you invest in putting your best foot forward. Lots of urgent tasks can be outsourced, or if you’ve done them yourself in a hurry, hire a professional proofreader to find all those pesky mistakes you missed and make you look great.
4. You tried it yourself, and … : Sometimes we need to learn from our mistakes. If you’ve ever tried to do DIY repairs at home, you probably know how easy it is to mess things up. If you don’t know your Insta from your LinkedIn, get a social media expert to take care of your digital marketing. If your last tax return didn’t even remotely match the CRA’s assessment, do yourself a favour and hire an accountant to save you from a painful audit in the future.
5. You’re stressed about it: Business is stressful enough. Even people who love what they do can get stressed out by some parts of running their business. If you have so much on your plate that it’s affecting your mood, your sleep, and your relationships—something’s got to give. What are the tasks that you’re stressed about? Are any of them things you can outsource? Or can you outsource some non-business tasks to make more time for stress relief? Maybe it’s time to get a house cleaner or a dog walker so that you can come home and relax after work. 

Remember, just because it’s your business doesn’t mean that you have to do every little thing yourself. Sometimes it makes more sense to outsource some of your tasks, or even hire new employees who specialize in the areas you dislike. Take the time to look at the big picture and create the business (and the life) you want for yourself.