My Greatest Challenge as a Business Owner – Outsourcing

I had a revelation this year – my biggest downfall as a business owner is my inability to outsource and delegate. Did you know I run SIX businesses out of my home? Three are retail, which require customer service and inventory management; one is technical and product based, which requires support and updates; one is service based, which requires consultation time and work; and one is my blog, which requires networking and writing. All of them require marketing. Fortunately, they’re all online.

How well do you think I run each? I would like to think I do a pretty good job, but the truth is I can’t give 100% to any of them. And therein lays my brick wall. Each of my businesses may earn money and allow me to work from home, but as things stand right now, I will have to acquire help if I want to move from a full-time income to riches.

There is one major difference between myself and all those Internet Marketing Gurus…

I do it all and they do very little.

I create and design my websites, I handle customer service, I network, I write content, I perform SEO, I, I, I. Sound like you? The Gurus spend their time creating a product or idea and then outsource all of the work to other people – sounds like a lot more fun.

So, why don’t I outsource? I’m sure my reasons are the same as yours…

1. I think it might be too expensive.
2. I don’t have the time to train people.
3. I don’t trust other people running my business.
4. I don’t really want to “employ” people.
5. I haven’t had a moment to stop and work on it.

All of those are pretty good reasons, until you find out the truth behind each. After doing a little research on the subject and reading about other business owners’ experience in this area, I’ve discovered that…

1. You can hire someone to work 20 hours a week for you for around $200/mo.
2. You can teach ONE person how to do everything and that one person can train the rest of your staff.
3. You can find loyal, hard-working people to work for you.
4. You can hire help without becoming an “Employer.”
5. Until I stop and work on outsourcing my businesses, I will always be stuck in the daily grind.

I really do believe I will NEVER reach the next level of success income wise if I choose to continue to do it all, because I CAN’T DO IT ALL!

So, I’ve made a commitment to myself this year to learn more about outsourcing and hopefully begin delegating some of my work load to someone. In order to learn more about it, I’m considering purchasing a few different courses. Here are some awesome options I’ve found so far:

1. Outsource Force

This is not a cheap program, but the benefits of learning how to properly outsource your business activities literally separates the top dogs from the small fish in Internet marketing. John Reese is one of the most well known IM gurus, so he definitely knows a thing or two about running an online business. John is accepting new students in his Outsource Force Coaching Program until Sunday night (May 16th) MIDNIGHT EASTERN STANDARD TIME. The online class starts on Monday.

All students also get a 1-Year bonus membership to Opportunity.com to learn how to run a successful Affiliate Marketing business!

→ Learn More About Outsource Force

2. Mass Outsource

I know Tyrone Shum through his blog. We’ve communicated back and forth throughout the blogosphere and I can honestly say I love how he talks about outsourcing. He seems to be an expert on the subject and makes it sound so simple. His course periodically opens to new students, but he offers free videos year-round on the subject.

→ Learn More About Mass Outsource

3. Replace Myself

This is a program a friend alerted me to. She’s been learning from John Jonas for a few weeks now and plans on joining his program. The program costs $97/month and appears to be open to new students year-round. This definitely seems to be one of the more cost-effective courses.

→ Learn More About Replace Myself

So, I will be taking a closer look at each of these to determine if any are a good match for me. If you know of any other courses or books and you can offer your experience with them, please let me know! And if you have experience with any of these courses, please leave your thoughts on them below.

If I try to do everything, I can’t do anything really well. It’s time I faced my fears and learned to rely on others. How about you?

What’s Stopping You from Outsourcing? If You Already Outsource, How Has It Changed Your Business?

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mass outsource, outsource force, outsourcing, replace myself