Small business owners often start out with limited resources and take on many of the day-to-day responsibilities. If you find yourself handling everything from accounting, marketing, human resources, and IT to growth planning and team building, you’re not alone.
As your business grows and the workload increases, it can become increasingly difficult to wear so many hats. If you fail to delegate and stretch yourself too thin, you end up spending countless hours working in your business and not on your business. Ultimately, your team, your clients, and your firm may suffer as a result.
At some point, growing your business will require partnering with other professionals in order to achieve your goals. But how do you know when hiring outside expertise is the right move?
Ask yourself what’s going well and where you may be lacking expertise.
After a couple of years of wearing “all the hats” at Main Accounting, I decided to take an honest look at what I’m good at and like to do versus what I’m not good at and don’t like to do. I also analyzed the amount of time it took to do “all the things” and compared it to outsourcing certain tasks to professionals.
For example, I thought I was a pretty good IT person until we started to add team members who needed occasional IT help. The increased demand made me realize it was time to outsource. I also felt our team had a handle on human resources (because it’s a close cousin of accounting.) But when we started to encounter issues that were over our head, we knew we needed support.
Focus on delegating a few key tasks.
Once you’ve determined the areas where you need help, choose one or two tasks that can be delegated to an experienced professional. Once you do, it’s likely you will be able to redirect your time towards generating additional income to pay for the outsourcing.
Eventually, I outsourced all of the areas for which I had been totally responsible. So, I am speaking from experience when I say that letting the experts do what they do best will free you up to focus on what you do best: growing your businesses.
Here are 5 areas where outsourcing might benefit your firm.
Information Technology: With the ongoing increase in sophisticated cyberattacks, wouldn’t it give you greater peace of mind to put this responsibility in the hands of experts that can ensure your firm has the best possible IT security?
Accounting: I know the commercials say that anyone can do their own accounting by using {insert their accounting software program here}. But this is not entirely true. If you start out with an expert and get everything set up properly, you may be able to handle simple bookkeeping on your own. But most small business owners spend at least 10 hours per week on bookkeeping – which could be 10 hours spent capturing income. Why not outsource it?
Marketing: Marketing is NOT my thing (insert big sigh and eyeroll here!) Fortunately, there are plenty of experienced professionals who know how to build an amazing website, boost SEO, and develop social media campaigns that deliver results. If you don’t love marketing, outsource this responsibility right away. The ROI will be worth it.
Human Resources: If you have employees, you need HR support. Having a trusted HR representative will ensure that you are compliant with ever-changing labor laws, so you can rest assured you are doing right by your staff and your business. I call our HR rep my guardian angel!
Payroll: Simply put, outsourcing your payroll is not only cost effective, but it can potentially save you thousands of dollars in penalties.
Here at Main Accounting Services, we have vetted all of our preferred vendors and highly recommend them. If you are considering outsourcing any of these areas, let us know and we will be more than happy to introduce you.
Main Accounting Services specializes in increasing the success and profitability of growing law firms. Our mission is to empower law firm owners by providing insightful information, accurate and timely reports, and financial explanations that are individually customized to meet your needs.
We understand the challenges and importance of solid trust accounting procedures and workflow, and ensure your trust accounting is in compliance with your state bar regulations. Get the peace of mind that comes with hiring experienced professional partners to assist with all of your accounting functions.