Keep Calm And Outsource On: Thoughts For Small Business Owners

When you started your small business, did you accept mental and physical exhaustion as part of the package?

I think most small business owners can agree there is a heightened level of attention, stress, energy and risk-taking required to pull through those early phases of growth. Yet catapulting oneself into a work-centric lifestyle doesn’t seem so bad; we expect to reap rewards from our efforts, eventually. We don’t expect to be full-throttle forever. 

But then…we are. Years pass and we are still are not making it home in time for dinner with family. Vacations are stunted by constant phone calls and email checks. Personal health takes a backseat, as sleep is priced at a premium, and lunch comes from a takeout box. 

“Fact: Many small business owners simply burn out after a certain number of years running at full speed,” says Wall Street Journal contributor James Schrager.

The pace we set is the pace we believe we need to maintain a successful business. Schrager believes, “in many cases, that pace is not an illusion.” 

The demands of small business ownership

Running a small business is hard work. And when you try to be everything to everybody in your organization, exhaustion comes in heavy stacks. One day you might not be able to carry them all. One day they might not even seem worth picking it up again. 

Schrager’s perspective is interesting, because he veers away from the popular “You can have it all!” mentality by asking, “How much is it worth to avoid burnout?” 

Would you be willing to earn less every year, but still be able to stay in business? What are you relationships and personal needs worth? 

These are important questions. These are questions you can attack in ways that work for you. 

For starters, outsourcing. This could be the strategy that saves your brain and body. What’s holding you back from outsourcing? 

Yes, by outsourcing the necessary-yet-time-consuming tasks currently sapping your productive hours, you certainly take a risk of revenue loss. You might avoid outsourcing because of the extra cost. 

But as Entrepreneur contributor Jeff Shore points out, this mentality certainly saves you money, but it does not make more money. There are opportunities you stand to miss because you were in too deep on tasks best left to others. Tasks like payroll, human resource management, benefits and compensation. 

Outsourcing your business’s HR consulting allows you to focus on core responsibilities. You gain access to higher quality support than what you could offer in-house, and save the costs of employing a full-time HR department. You stand to gain better hires, lower turnaround and more confident, productive employees. 

Professional, outsourced HR consulting should be flexible to suit your business, so you don’t have to pay for services you don’t need. 

And so when it comes time to tackle those human resource processes that get the way of doing what you do best, you’ll be free. Free to go home and eat at the dinner table, at dinner time. Free to follow up on a great lead, or contribute to your field as an authoritative expert. It’s your time. 

HR isn’t the only area to outsource

Shore considers text editing, social media, banking, accounting and artwork (ex: logo design and other promotional graphic art) as opportunities for outsourcing. 

You might elect to start small, and just outsource one or two areas of your business.  As you grow, more opportunities may arise to make your work hours more productive by leaving the day-to-day essentials to others. 

You might just be able to beat the small business owner burnout. 

Interested in outsourcing HR consulting services?

Talk to us about your options for outsourced HR consulting services. We offer a range of customizable solutions to suit your business needs! 

Image credit to Unsplash contributor Joshua Earle. Click here for link to image.