By Henry Brown

When you run your own small business, there’s an awful lot to do. Big brands and companies have in-house teams that specialize in HR, payroll, marketing, finance, web management, social media, branding, and more. They have a team to do everything, leaving their managers to manage. When you run your own small business, it’s different. You might have a small team and find yourself trying to do as much as you can to save money.

But doing the jobs yourself or hiring in-house aren’t your only options. There’s also outsourcing. You could hire a freelancer to take on some of the extra work or hire a firm to do things that you can’t. While this does come at a cost, it has many advantages.

It’s cost effective

When you hire a team, they are on your payroll. You have to pay them when things are going well, and you need them, but also when things aren’t going as great. When you outsource work to freelancers, you only have to pay them when you need them, making it a more cost-effective alternative to full-time employees.

You’ll also save money in other ways. Take on a virtual headquarters, for example, and you’ll no longer be paying your skilled staff to answer phones. Their time (and yours) is worth more and better spent elsewhere.

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As talented and skilled as you and your team are, you aren’t likely to be experts in all fields of business. When you outsource work, you get access to an expert in whatever you need. You’ll have thoroughly trained and experienced people taking on work for you, freeing up your time to stick to what you are good at.

Improved service

By outsourcing work, you’ll be able to provide your customers with better service, better products, faster delivery times and a better customer experience. This can help to increase your sales and boost your business. Well worth the cost I’m sure you’ll agree.

The chance to make your businesses 24/7

Nowadays, customers expect 24-hour access to their favorite companies and brands. They expect emails to be replied to straight away, they want someone to respond to their tweets within seconds, and the phone to be answered at any time of the day. If your business is all done out of your office, this just isn’t possible. Outsourcing work to freelancers and companies in other countries means your business can operate at some level, every hour and day of the week.

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When it comes to starting a new project, it can take time to get going. You’ll have to hire new staff or brief your current team, train them where it’s needed, and then spend time planning and organizing. It can take weeks to get a project off the ground. Outsourcing means you can have experts working on your new project within minutes.

Greater focus

When you try to do everything, you stop doing things well. You can’t give every task your full focus, you’re tired and stressed out, and you make mistakes. When you outsource, each job gets full focus, leaving you time to concentrate on the things that really matter in terms of growing your business.

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Henry Brown is an online marketing executive. When he isn’t talking shop he’s roaming the streets of London, uncovering the extra-ordinary in the ordinary.