I’ll make an effort and suspect that over half of the people reading this article are Type A entrepreneurs. Don’t look behind you I’m probably talking to you. Do you:
- Do you think your way of doing things is the best / only?
- Do you find it difficult to hire bright people like you?
- Are you overwhelmed with the work because there is no one else who can do a good job?
Yes that is what I thought. Yet you may have reached a point in your career where you realize the value of outsourcing certain tasks that you simply don’t have the time or skills to do.
Do us both a favor – don’t do it!
You will never be satisfied with another person’s work. So why pay to learn this lesson? Here are more reasons you should include not to outsource.
The product will never meet your vision
Let’s say you want to hire a content marketing firm to manage your blog content and ghostwrite for you as a thought leader. Your vision of the outcome is that you are now a writer on hot sites like Forbes and your inbox is bombarded with meeting requests from people who have read your content.
If the writer follows your directions at AT and creates content for the blog that you’re not promoting, and you get two visitors a month (hi, mom!), You’re pissed. Where is the fame and the glory?
The fact is: Type A entrepreneurs are driven by success, but sometimes when they are outside their wheelhouse their expectations are higher than they should be. Better not having a content presence than one that isn’t calling you from Oprah, right?
You need to micromanage
You want to outsource so you can have more time running your business, but all you know is that you need to hold that service provider’s hand at all times. You don’t have time for that.
Yes, they have been doing this for decades, but obviously they have never worked with you or your company. So you have to be part of every decision, don’t you? You can’t just tell them what you want and have them perform well, can you? They need you to help them!
You could probably just do it yourself
Accounting. Marketing. Design. Neither of them are your specialty, but you are damn smart. You can do whatever you want to do. So why pay thousands of dollars for a logo made by a kid who went to design school and studied the psychology of branding when you can bring together something perfectly good in a few hours? Um, maybe days?
And just because your intern frowned at the logo you created doesn’t mean the rest of the world won’t love it, does it?
They will try to nickel and pay you
So you’ve hired an accountant, and let’s say he gave you a fixed rate of X hours worked per month. Of course, you’ve called and emailed him several times a week to keep track of his work and now he’s trying to bill you for that time. That’s not fair. He works for you. Why shouldn’t he be at your disposal and call at the same rate that he originally quoted you?
Or you are working with a designer and her quote contained two rounds of amendments. But after these two rounds you were still not satisfied. Six rounds later, she doesn’t return your calls and you get a huge bill for the other rounds. If she’d done her job right the first time, you wouldn’t have had the back and forth, would you?
Other items from AllBusiness.com:
It’s lonely upstairs, isn’t it?
This article is kidding. I hope you understood. Type A entrepreneurs can certainly find it difficult to work on a project with other people if they have very clear ideas about what they want. But that doesn’t mean that you should give up helping altogether. Here are some tips to help you rely on and trust others.
1. Make it very clear what you want
You can’t get upset if you don’t get the results you want if you don’t communicate them clearly. So think carefully about what you want to achieve with a particular project. Set expectations with the service provider. What metrics can you use to measure results? The more specific, the better.
2. Trust them to do their job
This is a big challenge for Type A people, but realize that you hired this person or company because they are known for excellence. Let them be excellent. When you’ve set expectations, walk away. Be sure to receive status reports on the project, but avoid the urge to get involved beyond your expected role.
3. Provide constructive feedback
Whoever you outsource wants you to be happy as a customer. It can take a while to get used to your collaboration. So be patient. Provide useful feedback (“This sucks” does not qualify). Help the service provider understand how he or she can do better and guide them to understand your point of view.
Outsourcing key tasks can work wonders for your business once you master the art of doing it. Once you can trust the people you work with, you can focus your energy on doing what you do best.
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