Which Tasks Should Small Business Owners Handle In-House vs. Outsource?

Small business owners are often described as people who “wear many hats”. While this is true, there comes a time when you can’t (or, at least, shouldn’t) do it all.

As an advisor and a small business owner myself, I’ve always said, “Outsource everything you can.” But how do you know which tasks you’re ready to hand off, and how can you afford it? I’ll tell you all about it in this article.

At CSI Accounting & Payroll, we’ve been a “one-stop shop” for small business financial services for 60 years. We’ve talked to thousands of businesses about outsourcing and handing things off to their employees (a common example being bookkeeping), answering questions like:

• Which tasks are business owners supposed to handle?
• What are examples of things I should outsource?
• How do I know if I can afford to outsource tasks?

Which Tasks Owners Should Handle

Again, as both an advisor and a small business owner myself, I’ve always said, “Outsource everything you can.” You should focus on running and growing your own business. That means getting away from making the product or providing the service.

You’ll only be good at being an employee, a manager, OR an owner. You can’t properly do more than one! A book that describes this well is The E-Myth by Michael E. Gerber.

Take time to think and plan like an owner. Focus on these big-picture tasks:

• Deciding when to hire more employees or contractors.
• Deciding when to expand your business locations.
• Deciding which customers to attract or accept.
• Deciding when to expand your services or products.

All of these are owner tasks. So, what are you supposed to have others handle for you? I’ll talk about that next.

Which Tasks Owners Should Outsource

If you’re spending your time on big-picture things, what do you outsource? Here’s a list of things you might strive to outsource (once it’s reasonable for your situation, that is):

• Janitorial work.
• Technology & IT.
• Maintenance & repairs.
• Legal work. Hire an attorney, NOT a web service!
• Benefits & insurance.
• Recruiting. If posting on job boards isn’t working quickly enough or is resulting in high turnover, outsourcing to a professional can really pay off.
• Marketing, advertising, & social media.
• Paying your bills, making bank deposits, & other day-to-day bookkeeping tasks.
• Payroll.
• Human resources.
• Monthly bookkeeping, account reconciliation, & financial statements.
• Business advisory & consulting services.
• Business tax preparation & the owner’s personal tax preparation.

CSI Accounting & Payroll can handle some of these things for you and can refer for many others. See our services here.

But that doesn’t mean you’re ready to outsource. So, where do you get started, and how can you afford it? I’ll cover that next.

Knowing if You Can Afford It

The last thing that you want to do is blow your budget… but you can’t afford NOT to outsource some of these things. As a business owner, your time is worth a lot. It’s objectively cheaper to outsource a task when this formula is true:

The value per hour of your time * The number of hours spent on task > The cost of outsourcing the task

I’m no hypocrite. I outsource everything I can. I have an accounting background, so I handle that for my business, but I outsource cleaning, IT, legal work… you name it. (Your other option is insourcing. I don’t have a payroll background, but since we provide payroll services, I hand it off to an employee. If we didn’t do payroll, I’d outsource it in a heartbeat.)

What do you outsource first?

• Step 1. Start with things that you can’t do: the things that will cause big issues if not done correctly or on time. For many businesses, this means legal work, payroll, or bookkeeping tasks.
• Step 2. Move to the things that take too much of your time. This allows you to get back to more owner tasks.
• Step 3. Hand off the things that you hate doing. This will make you happier.
• Step 4. Trust professionals with everything that you don’t do well. This maximizes your compliance and efficiency.

Outsource Bookkeeping, Taxes, Payroll, & More!

Now that you know about which tasks to handle, which tasks to outsource, and how to get started with outsourcing (or insourcing), are you ready to look at outsourced monthly accounting or payroll services?

If so, please consider CSI Accounting & Payroll! To see if we can be a good fit for your business, click the button below for a free consultation:

Not ready to talk? That’s okay! First, learn more about what we might cost you by clicking the image below: