What do I Need to do to Outsource a Task?

As I mentioned in the previous post, most of us have more activities and tasks than there are hours in a day or week.  Handing some off to someone else (outsource) can be a great way to relieve you of the stress and to move your business forward.

However, there are things you need to know and to do before you decide to outsource.

Which tasks can you hand over to a freelancer?

Remember that list you created (I’m sure you did – right?) of all the task you do in your business?

Go through this list and circle those things you personally must be doing.

Be very honest with yourself and work this down to a number of hours which is doable for you.

What are you going to do with all of those other activities which must be done, but not necessarily by you?  You are going to learn to outsource.

How to Outsource

Just so you know, you can’t simply hand someone a list of things to do and walk away. Outsourcing only works if you have properly defined the task and have an effective follow-up system in place.

The Process

To outsource tasks properly, you need an automatic and easy to follow process. The
business system for handling the social media side of your business may currently look like this:

1. Brainstorm ideas for this week’s 20 social media post
2. Create schedule for posting and updating
3. Research and create posts for Topic  1
4. Add posts to social media sites
5. Research and create posts for Topic 2
6. Add posts to social media sites
7. Repeat for remaining 18 Topics….

If you were to automate (outsource) this, it might look like this:

1. Brainstorm ideas for this week’s 20 social media posts.
2. Email Fiverr freelancer this week’s topics.
3. Give freelancer a set schedule for when you want posts and updates to
   go out each day.
4. Have your virtual assistant provide the URLs of the posts and updates at
   a set time every day.
5. Approve work and release pay to your freelancer every Friday

This is a simple but extremely effective way for minimizing the mental and
physical time and energy you spend to get the social media side of your business
handled.

By using a set process,  you are not reinventing the wheel every week, scrambling around trying to figure out how you are going to work with your freelancer to produce the necessary social media interaction you are looking for.

Note that this example is not a complete task description for a freelancer as it does not contain any details about where to post, images to use, etc.  These types of details must be included for the job to be done correctly.

Once you and the freelancer you choose work through this system a few times, it
becomes extremely effective for producing a predictable set of results.

Where can I Outsource my work?

Once you have properly defined the task you want to outsource, head over to the following 7 websites (there are many more but start with these) where you will find talented and diverse professionals and freelancers to handle these jobs.

• Fiverr.com
• Upwork.com
• Freelancer.com
• Linkedin.com/ProFinder
• Toptal.com
• PeoplePerHour.com
• Guru.com

These websites specialize in matching the perfect virtual employee with the task you are trying to outsource. There are freelancers located around the world that can handle your social media tasks, email inbox management, customer follow-up and other necessary but time-consuming business activities. In many cases, you will be surprised at how little you have to invest to see some real results in your business.

Having said that, there is also a process to follow to select the freelancer(s) you will be working with.

More on that in the next post!