The thing is that successful entrepreneurs are aware of and apply these five smart outsourcing moves:

1. Know when and why to outsource.

Outsource because you want to and not because you’ve heard of other companies doing it.It will work only when you have a need for it without creating an artificial requirement just to be able to jump onto the outsourcing bandwagon.

2. Destination matters, unless you have an inner goblin that craves strife.

Choose a country that has a stable, pro-development, and pro-outsourcing government, is fairly free from ethnic and political violence, and above all, has an abundant talent pool of English-speaking professionals.

So, say you want to outsource several skills and build an entire virtual team of mixed skills professionals. In that case, a great outsourcing destination that boasts a rich repository of talented experts will ensure that all your remote resources are working together, if not from the same office then at least from the same time zone.

3. Know which outsourcing partners to utilize.

Differentiate between a freelancer, a project outsourcing company, and a virtual employee– understand who suits your requirements the best. Smart entrepreneurs are only too aware that the most common landmine behind the maximum number of outsourcing disasters is ignorance about the choice of anoutsourcing partner.

A freelancer is totally unfit for long-running and complex tasks while a project outsourcing company may be way too expensive for an SME (small to medium-sized enterprise) or a startup that doesn’t have either the necessary volume of work or the resources to foot their expensive bills. A virtual employee may suit only those who wish to work with dedicated and permanent remote resources with whom daily and ongoing tasks can be outsourced.

4. Know when to retain control and when to relinquish control

Nobody likes a “hovercraft” employer, irrespective of whether the employee sits in the same building or a couple of continents away. So, if you have outsourced work that doesn’t place too many demands on your time, intervention, and inputs to an offshore freelancer, then just let the remote resource get on with it.

Don’t hover over their heads 24/7 because not only will it be a waste of your time, but it may just backfire if the freelancer decides to just up and leave due to needless interference. On the other hand, taking a laid back attitude while outsourcing work that is crucial to your overall business on the premise that the outsourcing service provider will take care of everything might also prove to be disastrous.

5. Always have a backup plan ready in case something does go wrong.

Even the most wise do stumble and it is no big deal if an outsourcing venture does go awry. Don’t panic, but just calmly lift the curtains off Plan B and get on the road again.

So, outsource the smart way by using the blueprint that successful entrepreneurs have created.

Connect with Virtual Employee Pvt. Ltd. on Twitter.

Did you enjoy this article? If so, subscribe to YFS Magazine and never miss an update. Don’t forget to make our friendship official and join Young, Fabulous & Self-Employed entrepreneurs on Facebook.

Photo: 7Diamonds

Daya Mukherjee is Head of Content at a remote staffing outsourcing company in India, that helps clients set up their own offshore office in India at zero investment cost. Learn more about how virtual employees are an alternative to local hiring and expensive offshore outsourcing.

1. Hold virtual meetings with Asana.

“We meet virtually as much as possible via the online task tracker Asana. This allows all of our team members to instantaneously update progress on any given task or project, and we can access this information from anywhere. This saves immense amounts of time by minimizing and streamlining internal meetings. This allows us to easily and efficiently stay up to date.”

- Elle Kaplan, Co-Founder and CEO of Lexion Capital: @LexionCapital

2. Prioritize sales opportunities with cloud based CRM tools like Zoho.

“Finding the right technology solution is critical for small business owners.  We use Zoho.com, a web based CRM (customer relation management) tool, to manage our client pipeline.  This tool helps us focus on the important tasks that need to be done each day.  The ability to set up ‘potentials’ keeps serious inquiries front and center.  Using a CRM tool effectively will help prevent profitable business from falling through the cracks.”

- Denielle Lue, Owner of Stitch to My Lue Promotions: @StitchToMyLue

3. Mange a global team with online project management tools like Wrike.

“My employees are located all around the world. Thanks to the Web 2.0 project management tool, we are able to pass any task effectively through multiple time zones and get a 3-day job done in 1 day. This is particularly effective and profitable when you have a very limited time to create something and every second counts. For instance, we can create big, high-quality gold market reports based on Thursday’s closing prices and have it delivered when or before the markets open on Friday. Without applying the Web 2.0 technology it would be very difficult, if not impossible, to create even half of them by that time. Yes, you have e-mail and other means of communication, but when the work is done simultaneously by several people it’s easy to lose track and efficiency.”

- Przemyslaw Radomski, CEO of Sunshine Profits: @SunshineProfits

4. Move your business into the cloud.

“We are a small team of just 4, plus interns. Last year we took the business entirely into the cloud from Google Mail for business to Quickbooks Online, Vocus PR software, Dropbox, Evernote, FTP hosting, and more. In addition to the obvious file sharing capabilities, it’s made it easier for me as the business leader and entrepreneur to be just as effective while traveling as I am in the office. It’s saved me money in equipment costs [as well]. Notably during Hurricane Sandy when we were all working from home for a week we were still able to have the exact same email interface that we did at the office and [were able] to be just as effective.”

- Janna Meyrowitz Turner, Founder of Style House Public Relations: @StyleHousePR

5. Invest in robust customer relations management (CRM) tools like Salesforce.

“Moving away from an Excel-based customer tracking system to Salesforce has boosted both productivity and efficiency.  Our team has access to the most up to date client information and can collaborate in real time.  The right CRM makes it possible to easily pick up where your team member has left off in the event of sickness or, worse yet, turnover.  Keep apprised of your business efforts, maintain critical client information in-house, and keep your customers satisfied by investing in a CRM system today.”

- Neal M. Bottom, Principal of Marble Arch Consultants, Inc.: @nealbottom

6. Measure your non-work-related behavior using UP by Jawbone.

“Many entrepreneurs tend to be good at measuring work related items, but we sometimes forget the other essentials. I’ve recently started using UP by Jawbone to track my sleep, diet, and exercise, and it has made me much more productive and efficient, with not only my startup but also, in every aspect of my life.  It put a spotlight on poor decisions (bad meals, little sleep, sitting at a desk too long) that were draining my energy and allowed me to take corrective actions.  Now I wake up refreshed, eat meals that maintain my energy level, and I am reminded to step away every so often for a game of ping-pong or a walk.  Our company will now offer one to every new hire so we can help promote a healthy lifestyle and have some friendly competition around the office.”

- Lyle Stevens, Co-Founder and CEO of Splashscore: @SPLASHSCORE

Research suggests that approximately 294 billion emails are sent per day.  More than 2.8 million emails are sent every second and about 90 trillion emails are sent per year.

According to an independent study, “the typical corporate email user sends and receives about 105 email messages per day. Despite spam filters, roughly 19% of email messages that are delivered to a corporate email user‟s inbox are spam. This includes what is referred to as “graymail” (i.e. unwanted newsletters or notifications).”

Of course, an introduction or referral is ideal, but we don’t always have connections that can help us get our foot in the door. Personally, I’ve had some success meeting amazing people via email. I’m talking about not even having a connection or an introduction — just cold-emailing.

A lot of things I’ve accomplished as an entrepreneur — meeting Sheryl Sandberg, getting media coverage in leading business magazines, securing a speaking opportunity at Davos and growing my own business — came from cold emails. Here’s how I did it:

1. Write your email with the reader in mind.

What is it they want to know when they read your cold email? Who is this person? Why is it important that they read your email? What action should they take after they read it? Be clear, be persuasive and, most importantly — be relevant.

If you’re looking to form a strategic partnership start composing your email with something like, “My name is Jane Doe. I am an entrepreneur and founder at ABC Widgets with a revenue opportunity for you. Can I set up 10 minutes with you next week?”

2. Make sure to ask the question.

Sometimes we make the mistake of saying, “Let me know if you have time.” That’s not a question, and it is neither direct nor clear. If you don’t make it important to you, the recipient won’t make it a priority. Instead, write something like, “Can we meet for 15-minutes over coffee in the next two weeks?”

3. Be specific about who you are and what you will offer.

Don’t give a three-sentence bio. Give a one-sentence description about what — specifically — you have to offer. Also, cater it to the person you’re emailing; it won’t be a “one size fits all” pitch.

For example, if you’re looking for a mentor, your education might be relevant if you have alumni connections. If you are forming a relationship with a potential client, your latest business accomplishments are far more relevant.

Here are four reasons why you should set precedence (with customers and/or clients) in your business:

Not only are these types of small business websites unappealing, they are a turn-off for potential customers. A tell-tale sign that a company hired an amateur web designer is that there is too much “stuff” on their homepage. When it comes to web design (and your branding efforts), less is more.

Here are six quick tips on how to simplify your company’s website and make it more appealing to potential customers:

1. If something does not have a purpose, get rid of it.

One big rule of web design is that nothing on your company’s website should be accidental. Everything should have a purpose and function, just like a machine. Machines are never manufactured with unnecessary pieces; the same thinking should take precedence with your company website. If certain information does not fit with the rest of the page, it needs to go.

2. Web design elements should never compete for your attention.

When it comes to web design, there should only be one or two big design elements that call attention to themselves. For instance, think about a band. If there is a saxophone solo, the piano player should not attempt to take center stage. All of the other instruments should be supplementing the solo, not overpowering it. The same goes for a web design. There should be an attention-grabbing element and everything else on the page should be an accompaniment.

3. Stick to three fonts, tops.

Yes, there are a lot of cool fonts available to web designers. However, all of them do not belong on your company website. Think about how overwhelming that would be. Instead, simple fonts can make a statement and there are plenty of well-designed one-font websites. So do not be afraid to ask your web designer to use one font in varying weights and sizes. This design strategy can be anything but boring.

Just because you can use three fonts does not mean that you should. There are few websites that can pull off the three-font layout. If you feel that one font is too bland, stick to two fonts.

4. Use a maximum of three or four colors.

Acclaimed painter Bob Ross was an expert at making hundreds of colors blend together in the perfect combination of beauty and tranquility. Chances are you (or your web designer) are not Bob Ross; so it is best not to follow his example when it comes to color.

Instead, sticking to three or four colors can simplify a website and make the layout more visually appealing. For example, one great tactic is to go monochromatic and use the same color in different shades. Also, using lighter colors for a background, such as white or pastels, can make your company website feel more open.

As a small business owner, monitoring your competitors regularly can help you refine your own company’s position in the market. When you decipher you competitive set on a local, regional or national basis make it a priority to learn more about their business. Most importantly, tracking competitors makes good business sense.

However you might be amazed at how many businesses don’t track competitive activity. I’m always surprised when I talk to our competitors and they have no clue what we are up to (especially since we are such an open book in many ways).

There is no excuse for not monitoring your competition, especially with all the online cloud-based tools now available. If you are unsure where to start, here are five ways to keep on top of what your competition is doing and use that intelligence to set your company apart from the rest: 

1. Subscribe to competitive company blogs

This is pretty obvious, but whenever your competition posts to their company blog, you should be the first one to read it. Usually company blogs contain information regarding new features, partnership launches and hires, and they can also give you insight into their company culture.

2.  Use competitive products

You should have an account set up on each of your competitors’ websites (if needed), and every couple of weeks, poke around. A lot of your competitors will soft-launch new features weeks before they release them to the press.

If you are using a competitors website, you will know about their feature launches long before they are announced. Don’t forget to subscribe to their email newsletter and other brand communications as well.

3. Check out your competitors’ social media photos

Most companies post  photos on Facebook, Pinterest or Flickr. You would not believe how much you can actually learn from really looking at these pictures.

For example, I have figured out how many employees our competitors have, what they are planning for the future, the computers they are running, even what their culture is like within their office. One of our competitors even posted a picture of a whiteboard within their office, which had a list of to-do items. You wouldn’t believe the amount of stuff my team learned from that one picture.

4. Monitor competitive press releases and news

The Web is huge, and to really get your hands around the information being released about your competitors, you will need to set up Google Alerts. Once you have signed up, you will receive an email whenever your competitor’s company name pops up online.

5. Keep on top of competitive activity on Twitter

There is so much being said on Twitter about your competitors (and about you, too!) that you should monitor and respond to (if applicable) on a regular basis. I use social media dashboards, like TweetDeck and monitoring services (TweetBeep) to ping me if someone mentions my company or our competition.

Of course, monitoring your competition is great, but unless you analyze and react to the information you are receiving, it’s pretty much useless. Figure out why your competition is receiving the press they are, why their customers are reacting the way they are and most importantly, what you can do differently to get a leg up on your competition.

Connect with Tatango on Twitter.

Did you enjoy this article? If so, subscribe to YFS Magazine and never miss an update. Don’t forget to make our friendship official and join Young, Fabulous & Self-Employed entrepreneurs on Facebook.

Photo Credit: Bloomingdales

Derek Johnson is the founder and CEO of SMS marketing software Tatango. Tatango is a profitable Angel-backed company that services businesses and organizations looking for user-friendly, easy-to-use text message marketing services. Named by BusinessWeek, Derek is one of the top 25 under 25 entrepreneurs in the United States.

Complexity is your enemy. Any fool can make something complicated. It is hard to keep things simple.”

Richard Branson

Like Branson, over the years I’ve also learned that there is a real power in simplicity; simply cutting through all the fancy words and sugar coating and getting right down to the juicy core. Yet what I see often (and what I used to do myself) is business owners making their companies and lives a whole lot more complicated than necessary.

Generally, the habit to over-complicate stems from assumptions many entrepreneurs make in the early days of doing our “own thing.” We expect entrepreneurship to be hard and challenging, so in our expectations we often create that very experience for ourselves.

The temptation is: “In order to stay ahead of my competition, I should be offering a dazzling array of services and products, skillfully leveraging every marketing channel known to mankind and engaging with the most elaborate and “superfluous” language to really wow my customers.”

Yet herein lies the problem: It’s exhausting! Your good intentions often have the opposite effect of confusing customers and distilling your impact.

Whether you’ve just started a business or are in your growth stage I strongly recommend regular “simplicity checks” to make sure you’re not wasting your valuable time stuck in a web of complexity.

Not only can simplifying areas of your business be the very thing your business needs to move forward financially and regain control; when you’re in control, you’ll be happier and “show up” more passionately and energetically — that’s when the real magic starts to happen.

If you’re striving to make your business more simple, here are a few common areas to start with:

1. Brand slogan and pitch

Can you succinctly tell me in less than 60 seconds what your business is about? So many small business owners get this wrong and it’s incredibly damaging. Rather than becoming an enticing hook to pull customers in, they create an icy ocean of distance between them.

Step into your customers shoes and ask yourself: what is it they really want from me? What is it I’m really giving them?

For example: If you’re a personal life organizer, that in itself isn’t interesting to customers. But the fact that you will help them to free up an extra two evenings a week so they can spend more time with their family and be a happier, more ‘present’ mom is an attractive value proposition. This transformation needs to be at the heart of your slogan and pitch.

Tip:

To identify the transformation your business gives your customers, first clearly state the facts of what you do and then ask yourself ” I run my business so my customers can can do and/or have what?” Keep asking the same question until you get to the heart of what you’re giving them (the transformation). Use the template below as a guide:

I provide services and products (description of services/product)______________to (description of customer)______________so they can______________and ______________(continue the ‘so they can’ part until you really target the heart of the transformation).

First, there’s work that gets immediate results. It might be actually delivering the service your company provides or creating the product you sell. It could be creating content for your company blog or updating product descriptions on your e-commerce website. It could also be ordering supplies or promoting your business.

Second, there’s work that should be done by someone else. This varies depending on your business and core competencies. It could be web development tasks, sending emails, or scheduling clients. Many small business owners delegate or outsource content marketing, advertising, shipping, or bookkeeping.

Third, there’s the work that contributes to long-term growth. Often this is work that requires your expertise, but isn’t the hands-on work that you sell. It’s systems work. It’s process work. It’s relationship building. It’s working on your vision (and the byproducts of it).

Prioritizing Work In Business

Many entrepreneurs probably do a lot of the first and second kind of work.

Who doesn’t want immediate results? Some small business owners (quite a few) also end up doing a lot of work that they really have no business doing because they have chosen not to invest the time or money in hiring support and delegation.

More often than not, the work that contributes to long-term growth gets the short shrift.

The problem with this is when you don’t work towards the future, you leave yourself and your business in the hamster wheel of constant hustling.

Sound familiar?

…while you’re doing it, doing it, doing it, there’s something much more important that isn’t getting done. And it’s the work you’re not doing, the strategic work, the entrepreneurial work, that will lead your business forward, that will give you the life you’ve not yet known.
– Michael E Gerber, The E-Myth Revisited

I immediately pictured a lifetime of gigantic calf muscles. Or, worse, sumo wrestler legs beneath my tiny frame. As you might imagine, the thought scared the pretzels out of me.

Thankfully, I’ve become much less gullible over the years. In fact, I tend to analyze, prove, and question everything. Nothing is sacred.

So when I heard about the ungodly hours that I could be working to launch a startup, I had to dig deeper. I analyzed, questioned, and probed. Is it true that, in general, the average startup entrepreneur works 300+ hours every month? If it’s true, was that amount of effort truly needed? If it was needed, was I cut out to be an entrepreneur?

I conveniently found my answers to be yes, no, and yes.

How a Change in Attitude Helped Me Achieve More in Less Time

I will admit that it sounds incredibly romantic to quit a crappy full-time job, work 100 hours a week, and turn a $6 million profit within 14 months (which is the exception – not the rule).

But I knew from experience that this was not the way I wanted to build my life’s work. I wanted to enjoy the process, sleep well every night, continue running on a regular basis, and enjoy time with friends and family at every opportunity.

As fate would have it, I discovered that this attitude was the key to releasing myself from the shackles of keeping ghastly hours. This was the attitude that helped me figure out how to achieve more in less time.

Step 1:

I categorize my work into two buckets – “work” and “non-work”.

You can also think of these two buckets as “revenue generating” and “revenue enabling” respectively. For example, work is delivering a branding workshop that directly adds more zeros to the balance in my business checking account. Non-work is the phone call I make to confirm that I am indeed available to deliver the seminar. Any activity that directly adds to the bottom line is work (or revenue generating). Any activity that simply supports the overall operation is non-work (or revenue enabling).

Step 2:

I eliminate or drastically reduce time spent on any activity that does not fit into the two categories described above.

Simply ask yourself “will my company cease to exist if I do not complete this activity?” If the answer is no, then it’s time to cut it out. For example, 2-hour lunch breaks at fancy restaurants, long personal phone calls during business hours, personal Facebook posts and tweets are all great examples.

Once you’ve identified what you’re good at and areas that you lack specific skill sets, you are one step closer to deciding who you need to hire (in terms of talent) and what business activities you need to outsource.

The crux of the matter is knowing where your company is “weak.” It is also one of the largest deciding factors between outsourcing success or failure. What types of business tasks you outsource is just as important as to whom you outsource.

For example, let’s say that you are a small business owner who runs a software development company with a client base that is slowly expanding. While you are an expert in your field of work, essential but tedious tasks including accounting and payroll, customer feedback, and creating an active presence on various social media platforms are not really your ‘cup of tea’.

The question you’ve likely been considering is: “Should we outsource some of our necessary yet tedious business activities.”

My answer is simple: Yes, you should.

Rather than waste your precious time getting bogged down in the daily business details let an expert manage them – far more efficiently.

The Truth About Outsourcing Small Business Tasks

Often, outsourcing skeptics would prefer to wear all hats at once rather than entrust a stranger with their work.

But, take a look around.

Many business owners can share their outsourcing experiences — good and bad. Keep in mind, not all outsourcing experiences are bad. More and more small businesses across various industries consider outsourcing to reduce costs, gain access to limited resources, free up internal resources, improve business or customer focus, accelerate projects, reduce time to market and much more.

The global outsourcing market size continues to grow. For example, in 2005 the revenue of the global outsourcing market was 76.3 billion U.S. dollars. Last year, the market size of outsourced services was approximated at 95 billion.

Find more statistics at Statista.

So, as a small business owner what types of business activities should you outsource? Here are 5 commonly outsourced job functions that small businesses outsource:

1. Video production and editing.

Not considering your family vacation videos, what true expertise do you have in creating professional videos, which can be used as marketing and sales assets for potential clients and customers? This is an example of a common business task that should be outsourced to an experienced professional who can really add value to your company website and marketing efforts.