Outsourcing - The Key To Success For Today's Small Businessman

Copyright (c) 2010 Chuck Boyce

If you've been following the news during the current economic downturn, the term "outsourcing" might sound like a dirty word. But outsourcing isn't just about American jobs being sent to factories in China and call centers in India. It's also about your business, and about how you can use this oft-maligned term to enjoy more success and more freedom right here in the U.S.A.

When you become a business owner, one of the biggest problems you may immediately be faced with is how to handle everything that needs to be done. When you work for someone else, you're only responsible for your job. When you own a business, you're responsible for everything, including making sure the phones get answered and the bills get paid. Suddenly, your responsibilities include things that you're skilled at, and things that you may not be. Things that you enjoy, and things that you don't.

It can all become a little overwhelming.

Many small business owners try to handle everything themselves, thinking that they'll save money and headaches by not having to rely on other people. Unfortunately, that isn't usually what happens. Overwhelmed by the sheer number of little things they need to do to keep their businesses running, these small business owners often end up burned out and exhausted from working all day, every day just to stay on top of everything.

Other small business owners solve this problem by hiring employees to shoulder part of the workload – especially the parts that the owner would rather not deal with. But this can lead to a whole list of other problems. When you hire an employee, you're making a commitment to that person. You need to train them, to pay them regularly, and to be able to rely on them. And that commitment may be more than your new business can handle, not to mention more than you need.

This is where outsourcing can be a lifesaver.

Outsourcing provides a third way to tackle the tasks in your business that you either don't have time for, don't enjoy, or aren't skilled at. It's a way to get the help you need when and only when you need it for a variety of jobs, from virtual assistants to schedule your appointments and take messages, to bookkeepers, marketing experts and even people who write articles like these.

Thanks to virtualization – the ability to work with people solely over the internet – you don't need to make room for these workers in your office or provide them with equipment. It's all taken care of for you. So all you need to worry about is growing your business.