Outsourcing for Beginners
Try doing this for the next 2 weeks.
Only do what you excel at every single day. What you’re good at.
Do the things you enjoy doing and not have to fret a single bit.
For instance, some of the things i love doing: hiking, jogging, writing, designing, travelling, reading, insightful conversations.
In the past, I feel like I have no time to do the things I love doing. I have to work, accomplish chores; do THIS and THAT!
Then I uncovered how some of the world’s most successful entrepreneurs find tiny bits of time here and there. It never ceases to amaze me how they have always been able to find extra time hidden somewhere.
They always find the time to get things done, even learn a new skill and at the same time attend dozens of meetings. I always thought they have doppelgangers or clones running their entire operation!?
As you read on, you will begin to uncover 3 magic words that you can use to replicate some of these successful individuals. (Outsourcing is just one of the magic three)
HINT: It’s not about Excellent Time-Management!
Benefits of outsourcing:
- I forget about time. I tend to lose myself when i’m having fun.
- I get much needed exercise for physically and mentally.
- My brain can focus better. It shuts down when it encounters boring things.
- I forget about my immediate problems magically.
- We’re not meant to stay in one form of routine every single day.
- It exercises creativity exponentially.
- I get smarter doing what i’m already good at.
- Boost my happy chemicals such as Dopamine, Serotonin, Oxytocin and endorphins.
- Reverses the aging process.
How else do you explain this:
Alright, maybe their Billions also bought them their youthful and exuberant look.
Related:
But the fact of the matter is, they didn’t get to where they are today doing everything on their own.
I’ve decided to write a series of articles pertaining to my journey of running a business because it is way too hard to sum it all into a single post.
P.s. I’m not an outsourcing genius. I started with my background in Engineering and went to work for people as well in the beginning. Being an employee from the start is not a great way to expose yourself to outsourcing.
It was very difficult to get rid the habit of trading time for money. I had my doubts at first, “If I can do the job myself, why should I hire someone else to do it for me?.”
So, I don’t do a whole lot of outsourcing at the beginning.
I was so focused on doing it all by myself. I had the lone wolf mentality.
That isn’t a good mentality to have if you decide to start your own business.
So I outsource a whole mess of online business aspects from banner design to fixing websites to freelancers on fiverr.
The cheapest I could find at that time.
It’s definitely a strange feeling to have someone on another continent to work for you while you eat or sleep.
Feels weird at first, but extremely liberating.
Right now I invest around 25% of my business revenue every month towards outsourcing.
As entrepreneurs, time is our most valuable asset. The ultimate goal is to decrease the amount of work you perform while increasing the revenue for your business.
How does this help me if I’m an employee?
Learning to outsource marks the moment you transition from taking orders to giving orders.
Being the commander instead of the commanded.
If you have always been complaining about the lack of time or skills to execute your ideas, this can be your small-scale training wheels.
You can concentrate on your strengths rather than your weaknesses.
This is a litmus test for entrepreneurship — Can you give the proper instructions or not?
Most people fail because they dive into the deep end of the pool without learning the basic swimming strokes first.
Outsourcing can be your simple exercise.
It’s low-cost and almost no-risk at all.
Indian outsourcers can start anywhere from $3 — $10 an hour. And if you filter the talent pool correctly, you will often find some very talented, hardworking and honest individuals.
You can learn the basics of management for $250 — $500 a month. But don’t treat this like an expense, treat it like an investment. The ROI is purely based on how much time you can save.
For instance, you may want to outsource the technical aspects of setting up a website. Learning to program or dabble with the look and feel of your blog may take you weeks if not months.
This will give you more time to focus on building a business rather than building a website. Remember what the original goal is…
Then you can now focus on the aspects that makes you and your business unique.
Even if you have no intent to start a business, this will help you eliminate the fat and redundancy from your busy schedule and help you achieve the lifestyle that you want.
For most people, the cost of outsourcing may be the biggest hurdle of them all. Why should I pay them for something which I can do better? Because the ultimate goal in life is to liberate yourself so you can focus on the bigger and better things.
Look For Leverage
Leverage is something you should look deeply into as well, it is something that will give you an edge over your competitors.
You see, leverage is different from delegation.
It is something that Tony Robbins teaches incessantly. It is what he uses to grow his wealth to over half a billion dollars and simultaneously managing over 20 businesses.
It is a strategy that 95% of the people fail to use effectively.
Understand this. Activities performed without a high sense of purpose will slowly drain away your fortune.
When you know the outcome, the purpose, and the course of action that needs to be done, you can communicate that to a person. And that person does it for you.
Now that’s leverage.
Leverage is ultimate strategy to get what needs to be done without you spending time on it. They are activities that eats away your time.
Now this is different from delegation.
Delegation is when you have a lot of needs to be done, and you give it to someone else. And when they don’t do it, you get pissed off.
Leverage says, “I can move the biggest boulder in the world, with a little bit of effort I have something I can do it with, but I’m still part of it”.
It is Newton’s 3rd Law.
Once you understand and apply this simple principle in your life and in business, you will be able to gain much more freedom on the things you enjoy doing. (Read more of this from Tony Robbins 12 Life-Changing Principles…)
Eliminate before you outsource
Have you ever been instructed to carry out assignments in the most inefficient and unproductive fashion possible?
While outsourcing and leverage can help you achieve more, you shouldn’t be doing it if you can eliminate them.
You eliminate with automation.
For example, instead of having assistants to filter your emails and schedule meetings for you, you could fully utilize spam filters, autoresponders and auto-forwarding emails.
There are plenty of tools available online to automate almost every aspect of your web-life.
With automation, you eliminate the need to outsource or leverage someone’s time. Otherwise, you waste the other person’s’ time and your own hard-earned cash.
A Reminder: Money is just a Servant for you
Sir Francis Bacon calls money a Good Servant but a Bad Master.
Now why is that?
We view money as if it means the world to us.
If you read Tony Robbins Money — Master the Game, you will recognize that money is not the END GAME.
It is just the emotions we’re after that money provides:
- Security
- Freedom
- Helping people we love
- Contributing to people who need
- Giving us a choice
- Making us feel alive because of the instant gratification it provides
How you treat money, is how it reflects you as a person dealing with power.
Is it a burden to you? Or is it a blessing for you?
Once you realize that it is just ones and zeroes in the digital banking institutions, you will no longer treat it the way you use to.
You need to learn the rules of the game and master the strategies of the rich in order to win it.
When you keep working because you want to, not because you have to, that’s when you achieve financial freedom.
Is that a pipe dream?
Or is it really possible for the average person.
Living and experiencing freedom like the 1% doesn’t mean you have to make millions or billions of dollars.
It also doesn’t mean you need to make them overnight.
Find a way to leverage so that you can do more for people. Provide more value and to serve more.
Understand this. You can NEVER EARN YOURSELF TO FREEDOM!
You have to make the shift in mindset from being the consumer in the economy, to become a producer. You can only do that by outsourcing, leveraging and automation.
What are your outsourcing strategies, thoughts, etc?
Also, what do you not understand about outsourcing? I’ll try and include it in my series!
Originally published at thinkmaverick.com on November 2, 2017.
