Work on (not in) your business.

March 24th, 2006 by Shawn

It’s time to stop working.

I was having a discussion the other day with a colleague — someone in the website publishing business. He said his projected income for this year is around $50-$60k and we were debating over the point in his business in which he should begin outsourcing the majority of work. He believed that he did not yet make enough money to justify outsourcing — that it would spread his profit margins too thin and he had plenty of time to work himself, so, why not? When he reached over $100k a year, he said he would begin outsourcing.

In contrast, I believe you should begin outsourcing when you’re making $20k a year. Of course, profit margin would be slim to nothing while you’re outsourcing and making $20k a year — but you’ll also grow much, much quicker than the guy doing all the work himself making $50k a year.

So many website publishers on this forum have constantly stated that they have so many ideas but never get around to executing them. There’s a huge reason for this, but it’s not obvious to many: you don’t have enough time. You simply don’t have enough time to create several different profitable websites each month — you have to create the idea, design and code the layout, write the content, perform programming, and market the site.

So get somebody else to do it for you. Maybe a couple of people. Rates are cheap for all skills and labors — designing, content creating, programming, etc. As your sites generate more income, you can hire more talented and more reliable workers. You should use your time creating ideas and managing contractors, not in the trenches.

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Posted in: Business Management »  by: Shawn

6 Responses to “Work on (not in) your business.”

  1. Blue Cat Buxton  Says:
    March 24th, 2006 at 11:01 am

    Starting early also gives you the chance to built up a resource pool and learning to effectively manage them – a different skill alltogether from website publishing.

    Better to learn with small projects than muck it up when you go to launch a larger project.

  2. Andrew Johnson  Says:
    March 24th, 2006 at 1:58 pm

    One of the most counter-productive things I’ve done is gotten involved in menial tasks around my businesses. Sometimes you are the only one that can do them; just don’t make it a habit.

  3. Chris  Says:
    March 24th, 2006 at 7:00 pm

    This is good advice. My largest problem is trust. It’s hard for me to trust someone, especially someone who could turn around and use the knowledge I’ve given them to compete.

  4. Bryan Flores  Says:
    March 25th, 2006 at 1:37 pm

    In response to Chris’s comment, very true. Not only is trust an issue but sometimes the quality of work may not be what you paid for.

  5. Dave  Says:
    April 12th, 2006 at 6:12 pm

    My whole business is based on people in that situation. I find that developing trust is, in fact, the hardest part for them to get through. Once they get a feel for how my outsourcing network works, they start to increase their use of it rapidly.

    There is just no substitute for having trusted vendors.

  6. Sara  Says:
    April 16th, 2006 at 2:54 pm

    This is great advice and as we grow, I anticipate that we will do this sooner rather than later.

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