To really put your online business into overdrive you really need to think about

OUTSOURCING.

There are only a few hours in a day. Running an online business you know that Content Is King. But do you really have enough time to create all your blog posts, videos, graphics, e-books, webpages, ad copy, do all your own marketing and advertising as well as any product creation you are also selling.

There are many services out there for all industries that will provide contractors for one off or ongoing support for your core business. It’s like having workers without the headaches of being an employer. This is especially true for meeting specialist or one-time needs.

Fiverr has come a long way since it’s beginning as an online outsourcing agency. As it’s name suggests, when it began the gigs it offered were available for just $5. It was amazing what people all over the world would do for you for just $5.

Since then it has grown and developed a great deal. Now there are several tiers of vendors offering even top quality services and products for you. You can also put in a request for any task that you need done.

Just click on the image or link above and see how the vendors at Fiverr can meet your needs.

So why consider outsourcing?

Outsourcing  – The benefits risks and costs

To get more productivity into your business you can either invest in more resources such as personnel, technology, and equipment, real estate (offices, factories, and workshops, depending on the nature of your business). Or you can contract with outside businesses to supply the goods and services you need.

Here we will look and the pros and cons of outsourcing. The particular focus is on you running an online business rather than a bricks and mortar model.

The business case for outsourcing varies by situation, but the benefits of outsourcing often include one or more of the following:

BENEFITS

• Time saving
• Lowers costs.
• increased efficiency
• variable capacity
• increased focus on strategy/core competencies
• access to skills or resources
• increased flexibility to meet changing business and commercial conditions
• accelerated time to market
• lower ongoing investment in internal infrastructure
• access to innovation, intellectual property, and thought leadership

Taking each point and expanding upon it will help you to gauge whether this is a factor you need to consider in your own business.

Time Saving

There are only 24 hours in a day and no matter how skilful you and your workers are there is only so much output you can produce. Outsourcing allows you to multiply the number of man hours in a day.

Lower Costs

As you develop skills then you become more valuable to your business. Depending on which country you live in will determine the level of pay you receive. By management using workers from lower cost countries your business can benefit from those skills at less cost.

Increased efficiency

By using outsourcers you can achieve greater output of work in the same time as doing everything yourself. This helps you to deliver more goods and services to your end customers quicker which normally increases your business income.

Variable capacity

Certain business activities place variable demands on your business resources. Writing product manuals, creating adverts, creating marketing materials, creating graphics all go into the mix. But it may only need a short time for each skill set to be used.

By outsourcing each skill you only need to contract for the actual time and resources used instead of doing it in-house where you need to keep each department going regardless of demand.

Increased focus on strategy/core competencies

As higher management it’s your function to take time to consider the overall direction of your business as a whole. This is difficult to do if you are spending too much time on lower functions.

Access to skills or resources

As you evaluate each project you have to complete, you may identify gaps where your business lacks certain skills and resources.

If these gaps are only related to the one project it doesn’t make sense to fill those gaps with skilled people or equipment that will have limited use. It’s a better idea just to contract out for those items just for the actual time you need them.

Increased flexibility to meet changing business and commercial conditions

Outsourcing is a great way to be able to respond quickly to changing demands on your business. In early days you cannot be sure how long a certain demand will last. By outsourcing you can give yourself time to gear up in-house if the demand looks to be continuing.

Accelerated time to market

By contracting in extra personnel and resources you can get your product and service to market quicker than if you had to gear up yourself.

Lower ongoing investment in internal infrastructure

When you are fully aware of overall costs, it may be sensible for you to continue using an outsource service rather than bringing it in-house.

Access to innovation, intellectual property, and thought leadership

There are always developments happening in all industries all the time. Some prove to be just fads and quickly disappear. Others become the new normal and create an expanding demand.

By outsourcing in the early days you gain time to understand which way the developments will go. If they are here to stay then maybe it would pay you to gear up in-house to control costs and reap all the profits.

Some of the risks of outsourcing include:

DOWNSIDES

• slower turnaround time
• lack of business or domain knowledge
• language and cultural barriers
• time zone differences
• lack of control

Slower turnaround time

It can take time to find suitable outsourcers with the necessary skills and equipment to do the job you want done. Also there may be physical distances involved that affect the delivery of the end service.

Lack of business or industry knowledge

As the outsourcer may deal with clients from many industries it can take time for them to understand the nuances and peculiarities of your business. This is always important as the quality of output will reflect the level of understanding.

Language and cultural barriers

This is especially true when you are using overseas outsourcers. English may not be the first language so can lead to hilarious (and potentially expensive) misunderstandings of the needs of your project.