Mila is Right, But Don’t Use it As An Excuse
May 4, 2008
Mila posted a very interesting and important article on outsourcing in this month’s IBMoms Newsletter. If you haven’t read it yet, I encourage you to do so. It’s down the page a bit and entitled:
“The Truth about Outsourcing – STOP Throwing Money Down the Drain!”
Mila makes some very important points and addresses what I have been teaching my students who are ready to get into outsourcing. Outsource smartly by having a good understanding of your business needs and constantly evaluate where your spending your money.
Mila mentions the 4-Hour Work Week by Timothy Ferriss and I can see where people might go over the deep end to try to achieve the ideal nearly work-free lifestyle. Personally, I like working and have never thought of trying to reduce my workload to 4 hours per week (15-20 hours per week feels just right to me). Besides, if you’ve read Ferriss’s book, you’ll know that he sells huge volumes of his product and he has the resources to outsource everything. If you’re making a few sales per day or per week, that luxury may not be available to you. There’s nothing wrong with that.
Another important point Mila made was the mention of the 80/20 Rule or the Pareto Principle which can be applied to many aspects of life and business. When business management expert Joseph M. Juran took the principle and applied to business, he came up with “80% of your sales come from 20% of your customers”. Others have also extended the principle to show that 80% of your income probably comes from 20% of your work. In other words, we are likely WASTING a lot of time as individuals running our businesses and that also applies to the people working for us.
So if you’re working 8-10+ hour days and are even outsourcing, take a look at what you’re doing. Shave of ineffective activities for yourself and your staff. That alone will save you a ton of money.
Mila also says:
“So instead of outsourcing tasks that aren’t money producers, cut them out altogether or find a way to stream line your process (see previous article for more).”
But that’s where I want to clarify something that I feel is important and I’m guessing Mila will agree too. Not everything you outsource will directly translate into profits, so you cannot always look at the tasks someone is doing for you and decide if it is profitable.
One of the most important benefits of outsourcing is removing the time-draining, mundane necessary items off your plate, so you have more time to focus on profit-building activities. For example, your assistant may answer public emails, attend to administrative tasks, etc. None of those things DIRECTLY make you money, but the reduced stress and ability to focus is invaluable to your business. Still, don’t just blindly outsource the mundane - evaluate that too. Are all those tasks really necessary and how can you streamline the process, just as Mila says.
But here’s what I really want to say -
Mila’s advice is very sound…if you’re already outsourcing. If you’re not getting help with your business, what she said is not an excuse to decide that you can do everything for yourself.
Please:
- Set yourself up for a business that allows you some freedom and breathing room. Have a support system in place that allows you take time off when your family needs you and your mental health is screaming for it.
- Have a user-friendly, technologically automated and professional business that keeps up with the times. Use skilled graphic designers, programmers and other people with specialized skills that you don’t possess. Although you do need to understand the needs of your unique business, you certainly don’t need to learn how to program complicated code and move pixels around.
If you’re just getting started with outsourcing, you now have the awesome advice of Mila at your fingertips and you can do this smartly. Invest a little, grow your business and repeat. It’s as simple as that.
Related Resources:
- 4-Hour Work Week by Timothy Ferriss: Although you may not be ready to or have the desire to reduce yourself to working 4 hours per week, the book is definitely a good read with some good advice along the way.
- Outsourcing Sweetie: Want to do this outsourcing thing, right? Get the education and tools you need to make your outsourcing a whole lot easier.
Last 5 posts by Alice Seba
- Do You Need an Affiliate Manager? Why of Course! - October 8th, 2008
- Starting Your Own Affiliate Program is the Ultimate Outsourcing - October 1st, 2008
- Affiliate Marketing – Tips for Finding Products for Recommendation - September 24th, 2008
- Affiliate Marketing - Why I Love It & You Will Too - September 17th, 2008
- Take a Break & Come Back Refreshed - September 10th, 2008
Yes, I totally agree that it’s important to also get mundane tasks of your plate. Our efforts (as you have always said Alice) should be focused on marketing and income-producing activities.
I do feel that especially when we’re new to business it’s important to get feedback and really know our customers… answering email for a certain amount of time can help us do that.
You can, of course, get a great VA to help but often times (and this happened to me some years ago by the way) things get lost in translation and some VAs may not be getting all the details or important info back to you… so if you do outsource from the beginning please make sure you at least keep an eye on it.
I have a few great VAs now so I can trust that they’re answering the emails properly and getting me the info I need… but this hasn’t always been the case.
As far as cutting some things out… I do think many, many business owners tend to spend more than they need to.
If you outsource a task that’s not 100% necessary (for example, answering email is necessary), keep an eye on it and if it’s not making you a certain profit within a certain amount of time, let it go.
And yes, I totally agree, It is also extremely important to have a backup and not do everything. God forbid something happens to one of us — our kids get sick or life just gets in the way — business needs to keep ticking over.
As I said I still outsource and always will, but for the person just starting out, I would say don’t outsource until you’ve - one - made some money and two - have a good feel for what you need to outsource, how to successfully do it, etc.
Don’t outsource just for the sake of outsourcing…
I do believe Tim’s book has some good points and I enjoyed most of it really. But remember Tim makes his living now by “living THE life” it’s his whole persona and marketing strategy… a new video about him surfing in x place or shooting military guns in x place… it’s what his whole business is about now.
The reality is that Tim worked very hard before he built a business that allowed him to outsource in the way that he has… like anything else if you don’t put in the time and effort at first you cannot get to the point where things get easier.
Tim, Alice (I think this is true right?), myself and many, many other marketers who now have it a little “easier” now all worked pretty darn hard at first to get to that point.
The bottom line, don’t see outsourcing as a replacement for hard work or a magic bullet to success…
When applied correctly, however, it will help you make the most of your time and “get you there” just a little bit faster. Alice’s course is a good source for outsourcing productively, so I do recommend that to anyone looking for more info on the topic.
And read Tim’s book for inspiration too… just take it for what it’s worth.
Definitely always have a way to keep an eye on correspondence…new or not. A ticket system solves that issue, plus it’s easy to have new people fill in when necessary. It also ensures your company is prepared to continue to proivde good support as it grows.
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You two are such a good tag-team. It’s no wonder you’ve worked together so well for so long.
I appreciate the information because someone asked me about outsourcing the other day. I’ve already sent them this direction, but feel Mila’s article and this post (with comments) will give them more answers.
Alice I would love to hear more on your thoughts about a ticket system. I don’t have one in place for Internet Based Moms but have considered it.
We have one with the PLR but often times (as you know) people still email the link they see on their sales receipt, etc.
Anyways, a future post on that topic would be wonderful!
Sure, but I’m not a ticket system expert…but a happy ticket system user.
Yes, people still email, but most follow what they’re supposed to do. Plus, you can set up a ticket system to automatically generate a ticket when they send an email, that way you have a better record of everything.
I really enjoyed Mila’s coverage of the topic in the newsletter. Back over the holidays I trimmed some of my outsourced tasks in order to put my of my income back into my own pocket. It was a necessary move to allow me to cut my work hours down and devote myself to helping out with the Quads.
I did evaluate based on the profits gained from the outsourced hours (beyond those that cover basic needs) and cut those that were not generating a return.
Today I make careful choices about new outsourcing hours that get added. I pick projects that will generate a profit or strongly support my overall business in ways that allows me to generate more profits.