Running a business from home can be flexible, as well as cost effective because you don’t have rent to pay for and you don’t have staffing costs. However working from home can be challenging, especially as a sole trader due to having to be a “Jack of all trades” in running the business on a day to day basis. There are many essential tasks that need to be undertaken when running a business and that is before you attempt to market your product, or service in order to generate sales. In fact your whole day can start to resemble a juggling act! Sometimes you can spend the whole day dashing around without actually making any progress.

Managing your time is an essential skill that you should learn to acquire early on, however the tasks that need to be done can become overwhelming and out of control. This is when action needs to be taken. Take a good hard look at your daily schedule and see if it is possible to delegate and outsource some tasks. By freeing up more time in the day you will be able to concentrate on generating sales and leads, as this is the activity which allows your business and profit margins to grow. In fact you should spend 80% of your time generating sales.

This article aims to highlight some of the business tasks that could be outsourced.

Social media

Social media is an excellent tool for generating sales, promoting your brand and engaging with potential customers, however it takes time to use it effectively. It would be worth hiring a social media manager on a freelance basis to keep your social media accounts current and active. It is worth having a number of platforms in order to reach a large number of potential customers.

Accounts

Doing accounts is an essential, but tedious job for most business owners. If you don’t keep your accounts up to date you run the risk of having to catch up on months and months of paperwork, in order to meet deadlines. Thankfully you can outsource accounts fairly easily to bookkeepers. It is also possible to outsource tasks relating to payroll. If you are hiring staff or outsourcing certain tasks companies such as http://payroll.services can ensure everyone is paid accurately and on time.

Information technology

In today’s market it is important to utilise IT in your business systems. Not everyone is IT literate so it may be a good idea to outsource web design, management and cyber security. This will ensure systems are safe and working effectively, it also means that should any problems occur, they can be rectified quickly.  

Sales

As a business owner you will be involved in sales on a daily basis, this could be via face to face, telephone or email marketing. Sometimes telesales can be a thankless task and can also be time wasting, it is possible to outsource telesales, to people who have been trained in the art of selling. You will see more return for the effort and free up more time to complete other sales methods.

Finally, choose your freelancers carefully and ensure you communicate effectively throughout the process of the tasks being undertaken.