Keeping things running cohesively in the background is vital to any independent contractor. Delegating and outsourcing the smaller, not necessarily less important, things frees up time so you can focus on the most important aspect of your business. Yes, it may cost more to outsource, but freeing up time to focus on your main business will ultimately pay more in the long run since you can focus on building your business, which will increase your income faster. Outsourcing will also free up some time to keep a healthy work/life balance.
1. Data Quality Management. Having data quality management, which could range from keeping vital data from being breached from an outside source to ensuring you don’t lose weeks, months, or even years of important data backup.
2. Payroll. If you do end up hiring anything from a VA to a content marketer, you will need to keep track of their payroll, even if you are hiring them as contractors and not providing things such as benefits. Keep in mind that you can build upon this as your blog builds, and it will already be in place to help as you take on more and more help.
3. Content Marketing. Content marketing is a whole niche in itself that is constantly changing with Google updates, Facebook algorithm changes, etc. Unless this is your actual niche, you are better off hiring someone whose sole job is to keep up with these changes and build up your social media presence and Google rankings.
4. Bookkeeping. Independent contractors build a lot of small expenses. I’ve even made the mistake of stashing all my receipts in a box and email folder to be dealt with come tax time using software like Turbo Tax. It’s stressful to remember everything (unless you take meticulous notes. I will write things down thinking I’ll remember what a charge was and it’s not even kept detailed through my business PayPal account (take eBay purchases, for example). Just hire someone to handle the small details and they will likely find you a lot more deductions that you were aware you even qualified for!
5. Administrative Tasks. Whether you hire an administrative assistant or just use an outsourcing site like Upwork, you can prioritize which tasks are vital for you to complete yourself, and what can be delegated to an admin assistant. Bloggers often use VAs (virtual assistants) to do anything from answering emails, typing up the correspondence, or even keeping spreadsheets organized. Depending on your niche, there are a variety of tasks you can delegate away from yourself. You’d be surprised how much time you will free up from not answering emails alone, especially as your blog takes off. You can even type up canned responses that the VA can use to answer common questions and emails you may receive.
Not only will you save yourself a lot of time, but you will also have a healthy work/life balance which will help you avoid burnout (which many new bloggers do) and ultimately have the lifestyle and time for yourself and family that was most likely your ultimate goal behind blogging in the first place.
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