Which tasks should you consider outsourcing when you start expanding your business?

Taking your business to the next level can be a big decision. This often involves taking on more employees and developing different roles, and it requires additional services such as website development and marketing. If you’re looking to expand your business, it can be beneficial to outsource some of these areas to gain expertise and enable you to focus on the overall business. If you’ve never worked with a freelancer before, what areas should you be looking to outsource, and what benefits can they bring to your business?

What can you outsource?

It’s important when you’re looking to outsource certain services that you choose the right areas and select the most appropriate company or freelancer to take on the work. You need to think about the areas that will support your business the most, the elements that you have the least experience in, and what will be the most time-consuming services for you to do yourself.

One of the services that is often outsourced is marketing. This covers a wide range of elements and is generally an area that people don’t tend to understand fully. It can include general marketing, advertising, public relations and social media.

Alongside marketing, web development can be another service that you could benefit from outsourcing. This often requires a large degree of technical skills and experience, which would take too much time and money for you to develop yourself. When you’re looking into the area of web development, it might involve freelancers who work in the areas of graphic design, programing or web hosting.

The benefits of outsourcing

The major advantage to your business of outsourcing some of the services that you require is that you’ll be gaining someone else’s experience. This is particularly important if it’s an area you’re weak in as it will enable you to grow your business faster. The benefit of freelancers is that they will already have all the tools and technical expertise that is required, so you won’t have to train anyone up.

By using a freelancer, you can adapt to changes in demand quicker as they can often start work much sooner than a permanent member of staff would be able to. This enables you to manage the business more successfully, rather than focusing on the day-to-day tasks.

The role of freelancers

Freelancers can work for a number of different companies at the same time, often under an umbrella company for convenience. They can work the hours that suit you, so you only have to pay for the time that you require, instead of having to employ someone on a regular part-time or full-time basis. A freelancer can be based on-site or off-site, depending on the requirements of the job.

When you outsource work for your business, you are gaining a member of staff that has extensive experience. However, you won’t have the added expenses associated with employing permanent staff, such as sick pay and holiday pay, training or National Insurance.