The first Monday of each month, I dust off a favorite post from the Bennis Inc Blog archives and give you another chance to enjoy the wit and wisdom that’s been shared. Enjoy this month’s treasure – and if it inspires you – be sure to share it with family and friends!
As a PR consultant, I am most often the one helping businesses outsource their PR and communication strategies to lessen their workload. For a lot of reasons, I love the concept of outsourcing and believe that in specific scenarios it works beautifully! Business owners have more time to devote on business development and operations, while they know that their PR efforts are being consistently and professionally executed, sometimes even as they sleep!
I acknowledge that there are some scenarios where outsourcing isn’t the best option and can cause a disconnection and dysfunction in a business. Often this is the result of a lack of communication and leadership. What I’ve discovered through my experience with outsourcing is that there are three simple questions I must ask myself to determine if I should complete a task in-house, or seek the help of a contractor to outsource the task.
The following three questions will help change your life – both personally and professionally. Think of some of the tasks you are procrastinating from accomplishing right now. How would you answer these three questions about those tasks?
- Does it bring me joy or fulfillment?
Does the act of accomplishing a certain task bring you joy or fulfillment? Don’t focus on the end result here. Usually we are all happy to knock a task off our to-do list. What this question is asking is do you enjoy the actual act or process that leads to the accomplishment?
For example, I love having a clean home, but the act of cleaning my house, especially those nitty gritty corners, does not bring me joy or fulfillment. I drudge through this task, often doing less than a stellar job just to get mediocre results. I know people who absolutely love cleaning, it’s like a religious experience for them. For this very reason, I acknowledge that cleaning is a task I may choose to outsource. And I’ll reinforce this further with my next point.
- Is it the best use of my time?
Expanding upon the house cleaning example, I choose to outsource this task to a phenomenal cleaning lady who comes once a month, works for 3-4 hours tackling every room in the house, and provides all her own cleaning products. Her flat rate equals one hour of my billable time. Plus I don’t have to buy virtually any cleaning supplies! For me, cleaning my home is not the best use of my time, especially because it doesn’t bring my joy or fulfillment.
You may be able to think of a variety of other examples in your own personal or professional life that would yield a similar answer. It has nothing to do with feeling you are “above” a certain task. Again, refer to question number 1. If a task doesn’t bring you fulfillment and you can earn more money in the same time it takes to outsource it, don’t guilt trip yourself. Now consider this final question carefully.
- Does it help others?
I strongly believe everyone should use some of their time, each and every day, to help others. This can and will look very different for each of us. For some, it’s volunteer work for a cause you care about, for others it’s offering free professional advice with no intention of trying to profit from it. For others still, it’s providing someone else with the opportunity to do better in life. This can be through charitable donations, but also by creating opportunities for people to earn a good living using their God-given skills.
To draw a final parallel to my house cleaning example, I could certainly make time to accomplish this task myself. But it would mean one less client for a fellow small business owner. Rather, I enjoy compensating someone else, a fair and competitive rate, for the skills they are using to earn a living.
Years ago, as I was working hard to incubate my business and save every penny I could, I didn’t dare dream of outsourcing anything. Even after the business was producing stable profits, I struggled to break free from this mindset. Instead, I spent years doing everything I could to keep low overhead, both personally and professionally. Only in recent years, have I learned to enjoy the fruits of my labor and create a life that is far more enjoyable with outsourcing certain tasks. I urge you to thoughtfully consider the same.
Your answers to these three questions may surprise you, and as you run the numbers, you will find that outsourcing things you do not enjoy, that are not the best use of your time and that could help someone else instead, is a viable and valuable opportunity to spend more time doing what you love!
What tasks do you outsource in your life? What are your standards to determine if you should outsource? Join in the conversation by leaving a comment below!
