A few months ago, I wrote a brief post about the benefits of personal outsourcing. I explained how outsourcing some of your personal tasks — specifically those that you’re not fond of AND those that someone else can do more cost effectively — can help free up some of your time and enable you to become a more profitable and focused freelancer.
Many of you commented on how helpful the ideas were. You even asked for more suggestions on other tasks that could conceivably be outsourced. So I was asked to write a second post with a more exhaustive list of potentially “outsourceable” tasks.
Glad to do that. But first, I want to clarify a misconception I often hear when the topic of personal outsourcing comes up: the claim that paying someone else to take care of your personal responsibilities is a sign of laziness.
The idea behind personal outsourcing is to farm out tasks that you do not enjoy AND add little to no value to your life.
That comment misses the point. The idea behind personal outsourcing is to farm out tasks that you do not enjoy AND add little to no value to your life. Tasks that, when outsourced, can add productive time to your busy week.
If you believe that having your kids mow the lawn without paying them will teach them about personal responsibility and hard work (and I definitely agree with that), then by all means, have them do it. If you don’t mind making runs to the post office because it gets you out of the house occasionally, then go for it!
But if you hate doing those things (or have no kids to mow the lawn) and know that you could be working on billable projects you truly enjoy, then … why not at least consider having someone else help you?
OK. Enough of that. Let’s get to our list.
Sales Leads
Do you find yourself putting off your marketing efforts because you hate prospecting? If so, you may want to consider hiring an experienced virtual assistant or prospecting expert to help you out. When it comes to lead generation for professional services, the best approach I’ve found is to use a combination of direct mail and phone.
First, send out your letters. Then have your assistant call all recipients to try to schedule an appointment (or phone call) for you. Not only will you save time, but you’ll be giving the task to someone who might be more experienced and effective. Plus, to some prospects, it can make your business appear bigger and more impressive.
Prospect Research
Similarly, when it comes time to assemble your mailing list for your marketing campaign, you can hire an assistant to help you collect the necessary information and even verify all the names and addresses for accuracy. This might seem like a waste of time, but if you’re trying to put together a very targeted campaign — or if you’re sending out an expensive dimensional mailer — list accuracy can pay off.
Mailing Campaign Help
When it comes time to assemble your letters or packages, why not recruit family members to help you out? You’ll get it done in a fraction of the time and they’ll be glad to contribute. Last year, we drove to Florida to visit some family. I took 300 letters, envelopes and postage stamps with me and had a group of 8 relatives help me fold, stuff, seal and stamp all 300 letters. We were done in 45 minutes — a process that would have taken me hours to do by myself.
Vacation Coverage
Go on vacation and forget about the scads of emails and voicemails that will be there waiting for you when you get back! A virtual assistant can check both your email and voicemail while you’re away. He or she can summarize and prioritize voicemail messages into one document and even respond to urgent requests, if needed. When you get back to the office, you return to a manageable environment, not chaos!
Gifts and Cards
We all want to show our appreciation to our good clients during the holidays. But taking time to find and ship (or personally deliver) appropriate gifts can be extremely time consuming. If you find yourself in this situation, why not get some help? Don’t worry, it doesn’t need to be a stranger. Ask your spouse or other family member to help you shop for and deliver your gifts. Provide spending guidelines, office addresses and driving directions. You can even ask him or her to address and mail your presigned greeting cards and run them to the post office.
Personal Tech Support and Help Desk
As writer and consultant, my laptop is arguably my most important physical asset. But that doesn’t mean I know everything about how it works and how to fix it. So I outsource my tech support to a remote help desk. And I’m about to outsource physical repair services to a local IT pro who does house calls. I don’t mind paying these specialists for their services because, again, we’re talking about a critical piece of equipment to my business.
Transcriptions
If you have to interview people for a living, it pays to record the conversation (with the other party’s permission, of course). Trouble is, going back to the recording to find specific information can be a hassle. That’s where a transcription service comes in handy. A skilled transcriber can convert a 1-hour interview into text in a day or two. And once you have the transcript, you can easily use the “Find” feature in your word processing program to locate key words and get to the information you need quickly.
Data Entry
If you need a lot of data entered, a typist with excellent data entry skills can take on the task for you, saving you countless hours and a ton of frustration. Maybe the information you need is only available in a printout, but you need it in a Word document. Or maybe you have a big stack of business cards that need to be entered into your Outlook database. In either case, a skilled typist can save you a great deal of time.
Scheduling Appointments and Reservations
Setting appointments and keeping up with a busy schedule can be overwhelming. And that’s one area where a good virtual assistant can help. He or she can schedule appointments for you (both personal and for business), handle schedule changes, make travel arrangements (or at least do most of the research for you) or even find a great restaurant and make reservations. Don’t knock it until you try it!
Personal Driver
My colleague Pete Savage recently told me a great story about how he managed to turn a bad situation into an opportunity. Turns out that his car broke down on the morning of a very busy day. He had a very important client meeting scheduled, followed by a doctor’s appointment he couldn’t cancel. So instead of bailing out, Pete paid his college-age nephew to be his personal driver for the day. Not only was he able to keep both appointments, but as his nephew drove him around town, Pete used the idle time to get caught up with his email and calls on his BlackBerry.
Home Repair/Handyman
My “honey-do” list grew out of proportion a couple of years ago. So I hired a very reasonable handyman to work on some of the higher-priority projects on that list. And recently, my retired father-in-law, who loves to work on projects around the house, has tackled some of the more labor-intensive jobs. He does great work and loves doing it, and my wife is happy that we’re (finally!) getting these projects done.
As you can see, the possibilities of personal outsourcing are only limited by your imagination. Again, do what feels right to you. Do only what will add value to your business and make your life less stressful. Keep the tasks that are core to your business or those that you enjoy doing. Bottom line: There’s no right or wrong. YOU make the rules!
I mean … isn’t that why you became a freelancer in the first place?
Ed Gandia is a successful freelance copywriter and co-editor of The Wealthy Freelancer blog. To get a free copy of his report, 7 Steps to Landing More Lucrative Freelance Projects, visit TheProfitableFreelancer.
