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Small business owners usually try to fill all individual business roles themselves, but this isn’t an ideal scenario and here’s why.
As a small business owner, it’s only natural that you will find yourself wearing many different hats. Don’t worry, this isn’t a blog about hat fashion, although I do love a hat – this is about the many different roles you will assume and the different tasks you undertake whilst being pulled in all directions.
So, first off, let’s look at the kind of jobs you’re probably doing:
Receptionist – you’re handling all the enquiries, following up calls, negotiating, ordering supplies and more!
Admin Support – you’re checking emails, responding, researching, generating quotes, constantly communicating with the incoming contact!
Sales – you need to be actively selling your product or service, otherwise you won’t have a business!
Marketing – you need to market your business to sell your product or service in the first place. This includes brand consistent business cards, leaflets, websites, social presence, banners, merchandise at the very least.
Social Media Manager – you’re posting on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn or even more platforms; coming up with ideas for content, sourcing images, posting, engaging with your audience, pushing your brand and brand message.
Post room assistant – if you’re in the business of selling a product, it will need to be packaged, posted and tracked.
IT Support – tech is great but Smartphones, tablets, PCs, laptops, printers will all need some professional TLC at some point, but are you tech savvy enough for that?
Accountant – whether you sell a lot or a little, you’ll still need to submit a tax return every year as the bare minimum. You may even need to do a VAT return or more.
Girl/Boy Friday – who supplies the tea, coffee, water, biscuits and loo roll? Who is the errand runner keeping all the basics coming?
The Business Owner – after all of the above, you still need to get up, and get out there and show the world your professional edge and what solutions you can offer your clients.
Does this sound like you? Do you think you are 'juggling' by wearing all 10 hats at once, day in day out? If the answer is yes, then you need to start thinking about outsourcing because that’s a lot of tasks and you shouldn’t have to destroy yourself in the process.
Pushing through without a second thought for your health and wellbeing isn’t good for your business; overwhelm can lead to mistakes and these can damage your business.
Being stressed isn’t the same as being successful; just because you’ve worked 60 hours this week, doesn’t make your business as successful as your competitor, who may have only worked 35 hours; it’s about finding the right balance and outsourcing the jobs you know you can’t do well.
You may not have an ‘employed’ team to fall back on but I am sure that in your business circle you will have a number of people who can be your ‘outsourced’ team and this is an incredible resource of which you should take full advantage. They are your allies and can take a substantial amount of the weight off of your shoulders; delegate tasks to multiple people, spread out the workload, and therefore significantly lower your own stress levels and boost your emotional wellbeing.
So, let’s re-look at the list above and see where you can delegate some of your tasks:
Receptionist – why not outsource to a call-handling company?
Admin Support – why not outsource to a local VA?
Sales – you can do this yourself or outsource to a freelance sales rep?
Marketing – find yourself a great copywriter, web designer and a graphic designer who always have links to great printing services.
Social Media Manager – I’m always here to help you learn, plan, source, schedule or fully manage your social media activity to get your brand out there!
Post room assistant – you’re VA could help out here.
IT Support – get yourself some local back-up!
Accountant – you can easily outsource to a local bookkeeper/accountant for these tasks.
Girl/Boy Friday – add these supplies to your own home online shopping order as standard.
The Business Owner – CREATE THE TIME TO BE YOU!
Don’t be afraid to ask for recommendations – your associates will be glad to help you make these new relationships and ease the pressure. If social media management is one of the ‘digital hats’ that is taking up too much of your valuable time, let’s have a chat and see how I can support you and your business today.
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