For many start-up owners and entrepreneurs, the concept of delegating initially seems like a bad idea. It’s hardly a surprise, the nature of the start-up game is that you grow your business from concept to completion. This means being involved in every aspect of the company, the inner workings of the day to day.
It can be difficult to step back and allow someone else to ‘mess with your masterpiece.’ But to be a truly successful start-up, at some point you have to see the bigger picture. This means outsourcing smaller jobs in order to focus on growing and solidifying your business.
Read on to find out four business tasks your start-up should be delegating.
- Office Admin
Easily one of the most time consuming tasks for any new start-up is office administration. It’s a necessary part of the day to day business, but one that can be quite the distraction. While you’re covering payroll, chasing invoices, making travel arrangements and ordering stationery, the rest of your business is stuck on pause. With so many qualified office workers available on community marketplaces like Airtasker, outsourcing office admin is an absolute no brainer. Be thorough about what is required, the systems you use and the level of experience necessary. But delegating your office work is guaranteed to pay dividends in the long run.
- Market Research (Surveys, Data Collection, Research)
Start-ups often operate on the basis of what the marketplace needs. An entrepreneur will identify a gap in the marketplace or a potential for improvement on an existing product, then look to capitalise. So knowing what the marketplace is thinking and feeling is a crucial part of running a start-up. Take this ability into your own hands by outsourcing your research online. Find a digital army ready and willing to help. You can hire people to fill out surveys, do a targeted letter drop, collect data door-to-door or complete a trial run of your new product.
- Product/Website Testing
When it comes to finding success as a start-up, first impressions count. So if you’re looking to launch a new product or website, you want the initial feedback to be full of glowing appraisal. But rather than hiring an external firm to carry out tests on your product or website, why not go direct to the source yourself? By outsourcing the testing phase, you are tapping directly into your marketplace and getting instant feedback from the consumer. Outsourcing also allows you to specify the demographic you want to reach and liaise with them immediately about what they like, dislike and would change about your product.
- Public Relations
Any business can benefit from a little good press now and then. If you’ve recently made a major development, landed a new client or launched a product, the more people that know about it, the better off you’ll be. But running a highly effective and specialised press campaign can be a big ask when you’ve got the rest of your business to worry about. Outsourcing your public relations is a great way to ensure you’ve got positive word of mouth, without compromising your own development. Whether you engage a PR firm or opt for an individual contractor, you can find a professional who will work magic in the media for your business.