Jack Of One Trade: Master Of Delegating

One often reads about the saying, ‘God is in the details’, but many entrepreneurs take this saying a little too literally. CEOs taking pride in working as telephone operators, data entry processors, content writers, editors, etc., could use taking a step back from this ‘corporate schizophrenia’ and look at outsourcing options to leverage their productivity and focus on the core areas. In trying to don many hats, you could seriously be hampering your success. Small Business Administration’s statistics show that 50% of start-up businesses fail in their first year and up to 95% fail within the first 5 years. Of course, there are many reasons contributing to this failure but the primary reason is improper management and allocation of resources.

 Saving Money Vs Optimizing Resources

Outsourcing might cost you money, but remember time is a resource more expensive than money. Joseph Star was heading a web portal for college students in a foreign market. He was so involved in the details of the day-to-day functioning of the site that he ended up being super late in writing up the business plan and strategizing. He admits that getting help and offloading smaller tasks to a trusted vendor could have helped him focus on his business plan and strategy, which were extremely important.

Core Competencies

Of course, you are very talented and you are very competent, but jack-of-all-trades is always the master-of-none. In a start-up, it is essential that one be the master of whatever they undertake. Hence, being one and all for your business might just spell disaster. Your core competence might be excellent communication skills, but for the lack of help, most of your hours are spent formulating excel sheets and filing accounts. Doesn’t sound quite right, does it? Find your core competence, be the best at that. This will not only bring out extra ordinary results, but this will help you focus better.

Solution?

Even giant corporations like Microsoft, IBM, Cisco, etc., outsource their back office work. And that is why the BPO industry is much organized with well-set professional standards across the world. Outsourcing to countries where labor is considerably cheaper, leads to lower costs. Small businesses can select a right mix of home-shore and off-shore outsourcing to get the best of both worlds – right talent at the right price tag.

A good partner will ensure that staff handling your work is well-trained and you can focus on what takes your business ahead – giving you the mental peace and clarity to focus on providing better services, acquiring clients, while keeping your overheads to the minimum. This will help you improve the chances for your company to fall under the 5% of startups that survive beyond the first five years…