Are you overwhelmed with work? Here are 6 tasks
If you've got an epically long list of things to do It's probably time to hire reinforcements. Here are 6 tasks you can outsource to a freelancer or virtual assistant.
As an entrepreneur, your plates are always full.
The tasks just keep increasing in number. The inbox is full there are 17 Excel spreadsheets open at the same time and you haven't even looked at your social media alerts in a week, and you are constantly catching mistakes following the timeyou post blog entries.
Your list of things to do is far too extensive for one person to tackle. It's impossible to do everything by yourself -- which is fine.
It's time to call in reinforcements. For example Virtual assistants (VAs) and freelancers.
The outsourcing of repetitive tasks will give your time to focus on growing your company. From data entry to social media management There are a lot of things you're juggling that can be outsourced to a third-party.
In this post, we'll cover six tasks which you could outsource to save time (and your mental health).
First, is outsourcing actuallyworth it?
And we'll explain why.
Why outsource tasks for a virtual assistant, or freelancer?
This is especially the case when you consider this mind-boggling fact: People tend to spend 2.8 hours a day on productive tasks.
When you're a full-time owner of a business this number will be more for those of you who are. But chances are, you're working on tasks that aren't the best way to use your time.
When you outsource those low-growth, repetitive tasks to freelancers or a virtual assistant (VA) and you'll get back time to focus on tasks that will grow your business.
Bring in an expert to tackle the tasks you don't have time for (or really don't enjoy doing).
You can save money and time when hiring a full-time employee.
These benefits are why 70 percent of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMBs) say they have hired a freelancer, with 81% saying they would like to do so again.
Hiring a virtual staff such as freelancers and VAs -- has been proven to boost the productivity.
Research says that remote team members are up to 13.5 percent more productive over their office counterparts.
In the end, outsourcing tasks to freelancers or a VA can help you take the most difficult jobs, and ones that are not growing as fast your to-do list and free up your time to concentrate on building your business.
Then, there's only one more question to answer: Which tasks should you outsource?
6 tasks to outsource if you're running out of time
1. Organization and administrative tasks
When people think of outsourcing tasks to a virtual assistant typically, they imagine offloading tedious tasks like data entry and transcription -- and those can be a significant part of VAs tasks.
They can also assist entrepreneurs with a range of jobs, which is probably why the worldwide outsourcing market including VAs -- reached 92.5 billion dollars in the year 2019.
A few of the most commonly performed VA tasks are:
Management of calendars and scheduling
Data entry
Project management
Event planning
Email marketing
Outreach and follow-ups for PR
Invoicing, managing accounts payables as well as expensing
Customer support, including moderating social media accounts
Management of CRM-related software
Analysis of competitors
Transcription of audio and video files
Vendor management
Webinar management
Marketing via social media
Phew. If the list of skills seems to cover a broad range of skills, that's because VAs make up some of the most versatile team members available.
When you look for an VA ensure that you have a clear idea of what tasks you'd like the VA to concentrate on- and that you have funds to reward them fairly based on their skills.
Current prices of VAs on the market are:
$25-40 per hour for general admin skills
For advanced capabilities
$50+ per hour to learn specialized skills
While we wait, let's move on to some more specific jobs to outsource- like accounting and bookkeeping.
2. Accounting and bookkeeping
If you're like me -- you're nota numerals person there's probably a hundred other activities you'd rather not do other than crunch numbers.
In the event that you're making less than 5 figures for your business and don't have a ton of expenses to keep track of it's likely that you'll be able to manage the finances of your company using an application like QuickBooks .
If you earn more than that, working with a freelance accountant can assist you in balancing the books off your hands and help simplify the management of your finances.
Accounting is among the most commonly outsourcing business functions .
And there's a good reason why. Accounting is one of the most important tasks for small businesses -- especially in light of the fact that nearly 29% of new businesses are unsuccessful because they're short of funds.
Plan, organize, and pay quarterly taxes
Make sure you control your cash flow
Follow and keep track of the
In contrast to accounting software the bookkeeper or accountant can provide you with individualized guidance and address your questions in more detail since they're familiar with the specific tax issues you face.
Some bookkeepers even specialize in helping professionals in specific fields. Like, Friedman, Kannenberg & Company PC offers accounting services to musicians and bands, as well as music equipment dealers, as well as music school.
For an accountant who understands the ins and outs of your field, Google "accountant specializing in your industry".
As a firm owner, accounting functions should be among the first areas services you need to outsource (unless you truly enjoy studying tax code (I won't be able to).
Apart from the more numerical tasks like data entry and accounting, you can outsource tech and creative work as well.
#3 Designing and developing websites
It takes users about 0.05 minutes to form an opinion on your site.
It's the reason having a reliable web designer in your corner important.
Your site should appear appealing visually, simple to navigate, and informative. Also, in this age of instant gratification your website should be swift.
26.9% of ecommerce site visitors will wait less than 4 seconds to wait for a page to load, and 45.4 percent of those who visited stated that they were less likely to purchase something if the page load speeds were slower than expected.
Also, you must make sure that your website is responsive to mobile devices. Traffic from mobile devices accounts for about half of all web traffic worldwide , and visitors who visit your site from mobile devices are five times more likely to abandon your website in the event that it's not mobile-friendly.
Plus, Google announced in the year 2018 that they'd be boosting ranking of sites optimized for mobile within their results for mobile searches making it clear that having a mobile-optimized or responsive website will help with search engine optimization, too.
(You are able to check the site's current mobile-friendliness with Google's mobile-friendly checker tool .)
Outsourcing your website tasks to a seasoned web developer and designer can help you create a website that is fast loading, performs beautifully on mobile, and fits your brand image.
Where can you find web developers and designers who can make your site shine?
Some of the top sites to find a web developer comprise:
The Website Builder lets you create a website to sell an unlimited variety of digital items including online classes, memberships, and digital downloads -- without needing to ever enter an id, troubleshoot a finicky WordPress themes, or download the wrong plugin.
Have a look at the website Mallika Malhotra brand expert and photographer, created using the site editor of's:
Mallika has customized her site to fit her brand and aesthetic without having to hire the services of a designer or developer in order to build it from scratch.
Also, we take care of mobile-optimization, website speed, as well as all the technical problems as well, which means that Mallika as well as you -- can focus on selling and creating products instead.
A well-designed, simple-to-use site is essential, but with no great contents, it'll just take you so far. You can, however, outsource copywriting and content creation.
#4: Copywriting and content writing
The process of creating and managing a strategy for marketing through content is a long process particularly when you consider that the average blog post takes 3 hours and 55 minutes to compose.
If you're looking to put out weekly updates, that's the extra time per week that most solopreneurs aren't able to afford.
Plus, different types of content require different types of writing.
There's a wealth of experienced, skilled freelance copywriters and content marketers on the market to help create content that engages your target audience, and boosts sales.
It is possible to outsource writing projects that are of any kind, which includes:
Blogging
Press releases written by journalists
SEO SEO Services, such as linking-building, keyword research and backlinks
To locate skilled freelance content writers Jodi Harris, who is the director of strategy and editorial content at the Content Marketing Institute, offers these suggestions :
Contact your professional contacts and inquire for writers they recommend.
Place the job to a writer's job board focused on freelancer-based services such as the Upwork job board and LinkedIn's Pro-Finder .
Use an agency for creative staffing or an online platform for content marketing such as Contently . (This choice comes with a higher price tag however.)
Even if you manage the creation of content written in-house you can ensure that your blog content and blog copy are of the highest quality through outsourcing editing and proofreading methods.
#5: Editing (writing or video) and podcasts)
Your customers want to be able to access -- and hear, read, and watch excellent material from you. Customers love content.
Take podcasts, for example. 64 percent of Americans listened to some type of online audio (like a podcast) in 2018. the weekly listeners to online audio reporting an average of nearly 17 hours of listening per week.
This is a huge amount of material your audience could potentially enjoy from you. And lots of it could use to earn your audience's trust, loyalty, and dollars. Yet, content that isn't of high quality will not convert your viewers to customers.
Editors are the ones to call. A skilled editor is what differentiates good content and greatcontent.
When writing content, editors can assist writers to sound the best they can, put their message across clearly and avoid common writing mistakes .
There's also a tool such as Grammarly for an additional check, but it should never entirely replace human editors -- even if you're proofreading yourself. Grammarly's AI often misses errors (or finds errors where there's none).
Based on the type of content you're searching for and how much you're willing to pay -Podcast producers can assist with everything from reducing background noise to offering editing suggestions that help the show tell a more compelling storytelling.
Not to be left out, editing videos is another time-consuming task that outsourcing may relieve you of your responsibilities.
To locate editors on the market who can freelance for all types of content, look into marketplaces for freelance editors such as the Upwork or Freelancer.com .
Just remember this age-old saying that you only get what you buy.
Instead of choosing freelancers who promise the lowest rates and the highest quality, look for an experienced editor. They'll ensure you receive the best service possible -it will also will save you lots of time (and a big headache) in the future.
As with audio and video editing the final job of the list requires a lot of skill and time to master, making it an ideal candidate to outsource.
#6 graphic design
Let's start by putting this over with: Photoshop is hard. (And I'm not just declaring that simply because I earned an A in my high school Graphic Design class.)
If you're a small enterprise owner, odds are that you're not able to master the art of graphic design. But visual content is an essential element of branding as well as online marketing.
Actually, as much as 90 percent of purchases can be influenced by visual factors, and 40% of marketers claimed that graphic designs helped them reach the goals they set for their marketing in the previous year.
Employing a graphic designer could help build your visual brand across your site, downloads as well as social media profiles and beyond.
Freelance graphic design deliverables might include:
Logos
Infographics
PowerPoint templates
Formatting and design of eBooks
To save even more time You can also commission ebook and slide templates you can reuse over and over, so you don't need to make the assets again each time.
For example, turning your data-heavy blog post into an infographic makes the content easier for your audience to absorb -- and infographics get shared and liked on social media 3 times faster than any other kind of content.
If you're looking for a graphic artist Look into marketplaces for design like DesignCrowd as well as, naturally, UpWork's design section .
The two websites link businesses with tens of thousands of independent designers with design projects ranging from email and web design templates to packaging , t-shirt and packaging design.
Let's get to the point As with all the things we've discussed in this article visually appealing content is an integral part of building your business and one you don't have to tackle on your own.
Outsource these 6 tasks to shorten your to-do list
"There aren't enough hours in the day" is a cliche for reasons: It's true in particular if you're an entrepreneur seeking to create a successful business by yourself.
Working with a freelancer or virtual assistant could help you get back some of those hours. In case you're wondering, here's six areas to think about outsourcing:
Administrative and organizational work like data entry, schedule management, as well as transcription
The bookkeeping and accounting process keeps you on top of your cash flow and tax requirements
Web development and design for creating a UX/UI that people will enjoy
Content writing and copywriting, to ensure that your content marketing and sales materials stand out from the rest of the pack (and those in Google search results)
Audio, video and written content editing, making it easier to not fret about spelling mistakes or poor audio
Design and content that is visually appealing for displaying your company's identity and catch the attention of potential customers.
Asking for help can seem daunting, and there's often an overwhelming pressure on entrepreneurs to do it all by themselves. However, there's no reason to not consider outsourcing your tasks to get back to doing what you do best -building and growing your business.