THE BENEFITS OF OUTSOURCING IF YOU ARE SELF EMPLOYED
If you are self employed, one thing I can’t recommend enough is to outsource, as it offers several benefits, including access to specialised skills, cost savings, scalability, and increased flexibility. Here I go into what outsourcing is, why it is beneficial for freelancers and people who are self employed, and a personal success story on how it has helped me scale my freelancing business.
What is outsourcing?
Outsourcing essentially means that you delegate certain tasks, projects, or processes to external individuals, freelancers, or companies rather than handling them in-house. Examples of tasks that I personally outsource for include accounting, website SEO, running ads, and my most recent one - a branding specialist [which I will go into later].
WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF OUTSOURCING?
There are so many benefits of outsourcing, including:
It allows you to focus on core tasks: Outsourcing allows you to delegate tasks that are not your core competency or those that consume too much of your time. This way, you can focus on the tasks that directly contribute to your business and generate revenue, and the tasks that you enjoy the most!
You will have increased Productivity: It is no secret that being self employed means you have to wear a lot of hats, and it is easy to burn out! By outsourcing non-core tasks, you can increase your productivity and efficiency, and use your time more effectively.
It opens up access to specialized skills: Outsourcing gives you access to a broader pool of talent with specialized skills that you might not possess, and therefore will help you scale your business by being able to offer clients more than what you might be able to on your own.
It gives you more flexibility: Outsourcing provides flexibility in terms of project duration and workload because you can hire freelancers on a project-by-project basis or for specific tasks, giving you the freedom to adapt to changing business needs.
It allows you to focus on growth: By outsourcing routine tasks, administrative work, or tasks outside your expertise, you free up time to focus on scaling your business, acquiring new clients, and pursuing strategic opportunities.
So, it’s pretty clear that outsourcing is a win-win as it can enable you to streamline your operations and focus on activities that drive business growth. I have outsourced many individuals in my 6 years of being self employed, including recently outsourcing a branding specialist - Salt and Chalk Studio. I hired Heather, the founder, to help with my business re-fresh for 2024, and not only did she provide with my new branding including logos, colour palette, and typography, but I also found the process extremely beneficial in helping me to pin down what I wanted to achieve.
I started this year off with so many ideas and plans for the business, but amongst all of the other tasks I needed to complete, I started to feel incredible burnt out. If you work in social media you will know that Canva is a huge help when it comes to creating assets - it’s like an online graphic designer - but as good as it is, it is not a branding specialist. I knew I could create assets but I needed to know the colour palettes and style if what I wanted to create first. Hiring Heather was the best decision I could’ve made.
The process started with a questionnaire that I had to complete to give Heather an insight into what I wanted to achieve, and hoenstly, I didn’t think this part of the process would be so helpful to me, but answering the questions enabled me to really think about what I wanted from the business. It was amazing to just mind dump all of my ideas and visualisations onto someone else!
Heather then took my answers [and my Pinterest mood board] and came back with logo ideas. After some feedback, she then delivered all the final files to me. It was such a pain-free and streamlined process, and gave me the chance to step away from the business and allow someone else to be creative. I couldn’t recommend outsourcing tasks like thIs enough, and if you need a branding specialist - please check out Salt and Chalk Studio. Heather was incredible!
