By their very nature, most entrepreneurs want to do everything themselves. You don’t get into the position of owning your own business by assuming that someone will do your work for you. However, unless your business is on the large to very large side, there are certain jobs that you shouldn’t, or even cannot do yourself. Here are five examples of businesses that your business might want or need to hire.
IT Support
Some businesses are large enough to have their own IT department, and there are plenty of businesses that already specialize in IT and don’t need to hire outside help, but don’t automatically assume that your business falls into one of those categories just because you know a little something about computers. Consider hiring an IT company in Washington DC or your area. If nothing else, setting up systems and making sure that they are both secure and stable can take a lot of time, and getting someone else to do it may free up you and your employees to get on with your own work.
Digital Presence
Maintaining a digital presence through a blog, social media or other digital marketing campaigns is another thing that many people think they can do themselves. Take writing a blog as an example. You’re an expert in your field, you know how to write a few hundred words about a topic you’re familiar with. However, maintaining a digital presence is much more than just that. It’s time-consuming work, usually done across multiple platforms that need to be learned and requiring the kind of attention usually associated with fussy infants. Consider outsourcing that work to someone who already knows how best to manipulate and monitor your company’s digital presence.
HR
It’s common for large companies to have their own human resources departments, but for many others, it makes more sense to hire someone else to do that job for you. There’s a lot of time involved in managing payroll and arranging interviews and finding candidates, time that you could probably spend better doing something else. Additionally, since HR often acts as a mediator, it’s often wise to have a relatively unbiased outsider taking that position.
Accounting
Accounting is an area that takes both a huge amount of time and benefits from specialized training. There are advantages to keeping your own books, but consider how much time and energy you spend doing it, and all the small mistakes that could be costing you money, or worse. Most people only think of hiring an accountant around tax season, but it’s often a good idea to have one to help you all year round. You might be surprised at the trouble you can avoid and the savings you can earn with the right accountant. A really good one will pay for themself in pretty short order.
Design
Perhaps the area where people most often fail to outsource a job that they really should outsource is design. Large companies know the importance of good design work and they’re not afraid to pay for it. Whether it’s app design or logo design or web design, a sad majority seems to think they’ll be just fine doing it themselves. You think you must know what looks good and what doesn’t, but you don’t know as much as you think you do. Unless you are already trained in that field, a professional designer can work wonders for your company and its image. In the end, good design is well worth paying for.
This list is by no means exhaustive and it’s not universal. If you already have expertise in one of these areas, you can probably save costs by taking care of that department in-house. Similarly, if you have a very large company, it may be cheaper to do some of these things in-house instead of outsourcing. Nonetheless, it’s a good idea to consider outsourcing certain jobs. At the very least, it will save you time and when you’re a business owner, time really is money.
