When you start a small business, you are usually behind the whole operation. You wear many hats, from CEO to clean-up crew. As you pour your heart and soul into your business and it begins to grow, the amount of work involved grows.
Because a small business focuses on survival, you pay much attention to the bottom line. This makes a lot of sense, but it also leads to being seriously overworked.
There will inevitably come a time when you must consider letting go of some control and paying others to take some things off your plate. Here are five signs that it’s time for you to start outsourcing tasks:
You’re overwhelmed and stressed
This one’s a dead giveaway. If you find that there isn’t enough time in the day, you’re losing sleep, free time is a thing of the past, and you’re not your usual self — you’ve reached burnout. This is not a sustainable place to be, and it would be wise to start offloading some activities ASAP.
You’re spending time doing things you hate
Nobody goes into business hoping to spend their days completing tasks they despise. It starts with a dream or an idea for how to make things better. Or even an idea for how to make more money. Whatever the reasons you had for starting your business, they likely did not include doing tedious chores that you don’t enjoy.
When you decide to outsource, start with functions that are eating up your time in an unenjoyable way. Once you let these go, you’ll find your purpose renewed because you can focus on what you loved about your business, to begin with.
Quality of work has gone down
When you’re working hard and trying to manage all aspects of your business, it can be easy to miss this sign that you’re not juggling it all as well as you thought. The first signs often come from a client complaint–often along the lines of delivering a lower-quality product or missing something in your services.
When the quality of your work declines, it’s time to hire some help. If you’re not satisfying your customers, your business will begin to suffer – and then you won’t need the extra help, because there won’t be a business to run.
No time to grow
If you want your business to grow, you need time to plan for it. If you’re just getting by and not able to plan your next steps, you need to outsource some tasks. When you find that you’re barely holding it together to get everything done and there’s not time for anything else, get help. No business gets to the next level by completing the bare minimum.
No personal time
When your work life is taking over your personal life, it’s time to enlist some help. It isn’t sustainable to work so hard that you have no time for family, friends, or enjoyable pursuits.
You might be saving a bit of money, but you will also exacerbate your stress and miss out on the enjoyable parts of life. Did you get into business so you could work 16 hours a day seven days a week? Probably not, but you may find yourself doing that for weeks and even months at a time.
If that’s the case, you’re going to burn out. It’s time to get some help.
Final thoughts
It’s a difficult mindset shift for an entrepreneur who has spent all their time so far trying to save and earn as much as possible. But needing to outsource your tasks is actually a sign of success. When you take the leap and hire someone to share the burden, you will be pleasantly surprised by the many ways that it pays off.