Imagine you owned a business, and in that business your only responsibilities were to do the things you loved doing and were good at.
The stuff that - to you - was boring or hard was taken care of by one of your employees whose strengths were your weaknesses.
For most beginning or prospective entrepreneurs, such a business could never be a reality in their minds.
But if you’re thinking things like, “I’m not sure I have enough money to start my business, I certainly can’t think about having an employee any time in the foreseeable future,” or “I want to work from home, I have no interest in employees and all the hassle that comes with managing them,” then prepare to have your mind changed a little bit.
The realities of the internet, and the increasing number of people that want to work from home, make it very possible for you to run your small business like a big company.
And to do it from your home.
And to do it without any employees.
Let’s talk about how to set your small business up for big profits from the very beginning, and how to get you to the place where you’re doing only the work you enjoy as soon as possible.
Hiring Versus Outsourcing
The first bit of good news is that you don’t have to hire any employees.
Not now, and not ever if you don’t want to.
Instead, you can take the tasks you don’t enjoy and/or aren’t good at and outsource them to a freelancer who will serve as an independent contractor rather than an employee.
There are many advantages to outsourcing.
You don’t have to worry about filling out forms and paying taxes on employee wages. At most, you’ll have to send a simple form at the end of the year stating how much you paid the outsourcer.
You don’t have to worry about having a lengthy screening and interviewing process because you can make micro commitments to your outsourcers, hiring them to do a $20 project and moving on from there if you’re happy with the outsourcer’s work.
While you certainly can have virtual employees, outsourcers are always virtual. They want to work from home, it’s what they’re set up to do, so you don’t have to worry about having space for another person to come into your home.
How to Start and Afford Outsourcing
Sounds great but what kinds of things can an outsourcer do for you and how will you afford it if you aren’t even in profit yet?
The thing about outsourcing is most people wait too long to do it, or never do it, because they’re waiting to feel like they can afford it.
If you wait until you feel financially secure in your business you’ll never do it.
You’ll either end up with a business that never makes a consistent income, a business that has you so stressed out it’s not worth it, or you’ll get frustrated and just give up.
The key to successful outsourcing in the beginning is to start small.
Dip your toe in the water and spend $5-$20 having someone do something for you just to prove to yourself that someone else can take charge of even just a tiny slice of your business.
Dip your toe in the water and spend $5-$20 having someone do something for you just to prove to yourself that someone else can take charge of even just a tiny slice of your business.
As for what you can have someone do for you, start by looking at what you need to get done and don’t want to do.
Maybe you aren’t a strong writer. Hire someone to write an article for you that you can use on your blog and/or for social media posting and emailing.
Maybe you need a logo and haven’t a design bone in your body. Hire someone to design it for you.
One good way to figure out what tasks others can take on for you is to browse the outsourcing sites and see what people are offering.
Eventually, you’ll be looking at everything you do in your business with an eye to, “Could someone else do this?”
Where to Find Outsourcers
There are a nearly endless number of places to do this, but let’s talk about some that have a good reputation and are affordable.
If you’re really nervous about outsourcing and/or are on a strict budget, start at Fiverr.com.
The site was originally intended to be a place where you could go to get just about anything done for $5. While that may be a possibility, expect to pay up to $20 to get something really helpful done with the quality you’d want.
Other places to go are:
Searching for an outsourcer can become a pretty time-consuming endeavor, so keep in mind that you’re starting small, and you may have a few less than perfect experiences until you get the hang of how to best identify what and who you’re looking for.
Don’t spend all day picking out someone to do your $20 project.
Fortunately, virtually all outsourcing sites are set up so that your payment isn’t released to the outsourcer until you’ve received the completed project. That helps eliminate the scammers who would just take your money and run or give you something unusable.
Your potential outsourcers will also have samples available, as well as customer ratings and feedback, which means your chances of getting a complete dud are slim.
Think Long Term
Once you get the hang of outsourcing, you’ll likely find that you have created a trusted collection of people that you either consistently provide work to, or can go to as needed. This will drastically cut down on the time it takes you to get work outsourced.
Remember, like anything, there’s a learning curve here.
Yes, you may have a less than perfect experience every now and then, especially at first.
And yes, it may take you longer to get the instructions to the outsourcer than it would take you to do it yourself, at first.
But once you’ve found “your person,” she’ll be able to do what you need quicker than you can, better than you can, and cheaper than you can.
And as always, if you want help with starting your business, Kids Party Characters owner Cheryl Jacobs is here for you.
She went through the growing pains of learning entrepreneurship and can help you avoid the big mistakes and get your business off to a fast start.
Cheryl has created an opportunity with KidsPartyCharacters.com that allows you to start a business having much of the initial work outsourced and already completed for you.
With membership in Kids Party Characters, you’ll start out with an exclusive territory in which to book parties, the right to use our 200+ costumes, and access to our casting director and acting coach.
You’ll also get step-by-step training from Cheryl on how to start your business.
If this sounds like the kind of advantage you’re looking for in starting your business, schedule a friendly chat with Cheryl right here and she’ll give you all the details and answer any questions you have.
Also learn more about KidsPartyCharacters.com by joining us on Facebook for daily updates on the magic we bring to children’s parties as well as the strategies we use to make Kids Party Characters a successful six figure company.
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