When you’re a small business owner, everything is on you. You’re in charge of sales, customer service, social media, returns, accounting—the whole nine yards.
Just writing this out has me exhausted. There are a lot of things you need to be responsible for, and let’s be honest, most of the time, you don’t get everything done by the end of the day.
When I started my business, I couldn’t stand doing bookkeeping. I always pushed it to the next day. And eventually, it would take me weeks before I did my bookkeeping. It’s not my thing (can you blame me?), and I would rather focus my time scaling my business.
And that’s where, as a business owner, you need to decide where to invest your time and whether outsourcing certain tasks will help your business.
In this article, I’m going to talk about why you should consider outsourcing and what outsourcing websites can help you.
Outsourcing is when you hire a freelancer or agency to take on certain tasks in your business. The goal of outsourcing is to alleviate the business owner from time-consuming tasks, so you can focus on running your business.
With 45% of entrepreneurs experiencing stress, outsourcing can help eliminate these tasks off your plate so you can focus on scaling your business.
Here are some tasks you can outsource for your business:
Now that you know what you can outsource, let’s look at the websites that can get these tasks done for you.
When all is said and done, while outsourcing may sound like a good idea, where do you go? I’m going to talk about the best outsourcing websites you can check out. Let’s get to it!
Fiverr is one of the largest online marketplaces to hire freelancers to help you out with your business.
Professional freelancers post “gigs” that they offer, and you can directly purchase the service or contact the seller to work out a customized agreement.
Regardless of the industry you’re in, there will be someone who can help take on some of your tasks.
While Fiverr works on the model that freelancers offer services at a starting rate of $5. And while you probably can find freelancers to complete your tasks for $5, I find that you typically end up paying more (which isn’t necessarily bad, but it’s something to keep in mind when on their site).
Best for: Business owners who are outsourcing for the first time.
Upwork is a well-known freelance website for businesses that need an extra helping hand. You can post a job and freelancers will apply to it, or you can search for freelancers based on your needs. You can also look at freelancer’s profiles to read reviews, and see their work experience.
Freelancers can charge based on hours worked (Upwork has a keyboard and mouse tracking software, so you can track their work) or for a flat fee.
Personally, if you have tasks that you prefer to pay based per hour, Upwork is great for this. I used Upwork for a variety of administrative and IT tasks, and I didn’t have a problem.
Best for: Business owners who need help with a little bit of everything.
Freelancer is a great freelance website that focuses on helping small businesses. When hiring a freelancer on the website, you create payment milestones, and once each milestone is completed, the payment is then released to the freelancer. So, there are some checks and balances to ensure you get what you paid for.
I will say that their fees can be a bit confusing. For example, you need to pay $5 (refundable) to post a project. So, do check the fees before posting a project.
Ideally, Freelancer is a good option if you have smaller projects that need completion.
Best for: Business owners who need one-time or small tasks completed.
Guru is another popular freelance website that gathers designers, writers, virtual assistants, marketing experts, translators – basically everyone – under one roof.
With Guru, you have access to over 3 million freelancers worldwide. However, most of Guru’s freelancers are US-based. So, if you’re looking for a native English speaker, this site may be a good option for you.
Guru offers safe and easy payment options, and you can pay by milestone, hour, task, or recurring payments.
Best for: Business owners looking for US-based freelancers (for example, you need customer service support in the same time zone as your business).
You may enjoy bookkeeping and answering customer emails, but you’re not a creative person—and that’s completely okay. We all have our strengths and weaknesses—at least you know what they are for you.
Writers Access is a content creation platform full of writers, editors, and designers. They can take on your creative tasks for you, like blog posts, illustrations, social media content, etc.
However, Writer Access works on a subscription, so you need to purchase a subscription in order to connect with freelancers. This website is ideal if you have long-term projects.
Best for: Business owners with long-term projects.
If you’re not a designer or illustrator, making social media posts or newsletters that look professional and fit your brand can be a challenge. Not to mention, it’s very time-consuming.
If you’re looking for handcrafted visual content, Creative Market is a website you should check out. You can hire a designer to create website, email, social media templates, and other digital designs for your business.
And with 4.8 million happy users, they must be doing something right.
Best for: Business owners who need help with creative tasks.
When you’re a business owner, you have a lot of things on your plate. However, outsourcing repetitive or time-consuming tasks can help you focus on what matters, scaling your business.
Before choosing a website, think about what’s most time-consuming for you and whether it would be advantageous to outsource it. From there, all you need to do is choose the right freelancer for you.
Natasha Ivanovic is a Vancouver-born creative writer that started her writing career as a freelancer while studying for her Master’s in Investigative Psychology. On the weekends, she writes short stories for her blog, TheLonelySerb, and cuddles with her bulldog, Bob.
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