If you are considering outsourcing rather than taking on the responsibility and additional overheads of employing someone, the first things you should decide are:
- What are the tasks you like to do?
- What tasks do you not like to do?
- What takes up your time?
- What are the tasks only you can do?
Once you have made your list, put a value to the cost of either, yourself doing each task or outsourcing cost next to each task. Now you have somewhere to start!
If you outsource the lower value tasks in terms of skill and money, for example:
- Bookkeeping
- Credit control
- Email and diary management
- Sales lead and follow up
- General enquiries
- Proof reading
- Audio typing/transcript
- Social media
Estimate a timed value per task and this will show you how much time you are spending on each area weekly. If we say you are spending 3 hours per day on these tasks, could you benefit from outsourcing?
Is your time better spent making connections, networking, meeting clients, closing deals, and working on the infrastructure and development for the company?
Is your time in your business is worth more than the average cost of outsourcing at £25 per hour?
Example 1: A Health and Wellness Company
A business owner who values their time between £40-£60 per hour and opens their clinic Monday to Friday 9am to 6pm. They are treating clients, networking and managing staff daily. If they are doing the additional tasks above, this is eating into their profits and their own time.
If they were to pay £75 a day = £375 a week for Virtual Assistant to support, they could potentially earn £900 income and free up their spare time.
Example 2: A Heating Company
Running a company with 3 subcontractors and working in both private and commercial sectors means contracting, pricing jobs, managing the team, producing gas safety checks and certification, commuting between jobs and buying parts.
If they outsourced their support, this could enable them to grow the business, make more profit and gain them some time back.
If they were to employ someone based on £12 per hour, for 4 hours per day part time Monday to Friday, this would cost them £12,966.72 + pension at 3% at £389.
Communications and office equipment average £2,400 per employee, line manager resources estimated at £1,296 plus the cost of sick days and holidays, along with bonuses and staff events, estimates a total true cost for an individual employee of £29,552.
In comparison, outsourcing at 3 hours per day (1hr dropped due to no distraction in workplace and breaks not applicable) costs the company, at the £25 per hour rate, £19,500 annually – this would be a company saving of £10,002!
Working smarter is the answer, not harder! You can reduce costs, build on your profits and get your time back if you outsource right.
There are no limits to what can be outsourced, but it is worth seeing if this is going to work for you and be beneficial to your time, profits and cashflow. There are certain tasks that will need to be carried out onsite and some Virtual Assistants may be willing to do this, but it is worth bearing in mind this may come with an additional cost.
Key tips we recommend when looking for the right support:
- Do they have the same morals and values as my business?
- Are they my ‘make it happen’ person?
- Are they able to communicate well?
- Will they represent my business brand to my expectations?
- Do they have insurance and follow GDPR procedures?
- Have they got references?
If you are thinking of trying a new way to manage your business, try outsourcing to save you time, money and hassle.