“It can be tempting when the pressure is off to delay setting up an outsourcing relationship. However, you want to get this in place and working well before you hit a peak time”
The cyclical nature of stress
Many accountants and business owners find themselves completely stressed out and overwhelmed simply because they are wearing too many hats and trying to do too much on their own. As a result they start to consider outsourcing to take some of the pressure off and ease their headache. However when the work dies down slightly, they think they can manage and go back to juggling 10 different things at once; and so the stress starts up again.
Just one too many things to do to outsource?
There are so many people out there who are considering outsourcing. But for one reason or another never quite get around to it. Here are some of the common reasons why people delay outsourcing:
– They have a hard time asking for help
– They have a certain way of doing things
– They don’t want to pay for things when they can do it themselves
– They don’t want a reduced quality in work (this isn’t the case if you work with us!)
– They don’t know who they can outsource to and how to get started
– They don’t like change.
– They’ve had a bad experience in the past with outsourcing
There’s no shame in hanging up a few of those hats and accepting you simply can’t do everything yourself. After all no one is really superman or wonder woman. As long as you insist on doing everything yourself, you will never have enough time to do it all, and more importantly quality is likely to suffer as a result.
As the saying goes, you should work on the business rather than in the business. Focus on the things only you can do as a business owner, and delegate all the other tasks to help free up your time and switch your focus to things that will generate income for your business. When was the last time you spent real quality time with your family and friends? By choosing to selectively outsource you might find yourself leaving the office at a reasonable hour and minimising the amount of work you have to do on the weekends. Sounds good right?
Remember change isn’t necessarily bad
We’ve held many of our clients’ hands as they have taken their first steps into outsourcing their finance function or accounting work to us. Yes, there often is a step learning curve as a client’s organisation adjusts to the new ways of working. However, when the dust has settled, many of our clients wonder why it took so long to start outsourcing, as the process of getting up and running was much, much easier than they ever thought possible.
Planning ahead is key
In today’s fast-paced business world there is so much to do and so little time to do it. Therefore, the only real solution is to take advantage of the help that’s out there for the taking. Anticipating when you will need help and planning in advance is key, and can help you save so much time in the future.
Start off slowly with outsourcing
You don’t have to jump in headfirst, you can start off slowly. Remember there’s a lot that needs to be worked out behind the scenes in order for things to run smoothly. So it’s important to give yourself that time to sit down with your outsourcer, get to know the team, understand the process etc. and then you can get the ball rolling and gradually feed them jobs you need to be completed.
