Running an efficient business requires knowing when to ask for help or when to outsource work. This by no means indicates failure. On the contrary, it exemplifies business savvy.

For instance, have you ever spent hours working on something you didn’t know enough about? It doesn’t matter if it was setting up your wireless printer or trying to configure your autoresponder for the first time. You may have eventually figured it out, but how much time did it cost you?

What about the things you know you should be doing for your business that you keep putting off because you don’t know how to do them?

Maybe you’re not launching that membership site because you don’t know what software to choose or how to set it up. Maybe you’re not launching your first eBook because you don’t know how to create a sales page.

There are lots of different pieces and skills involved in running a successful online business. You can’t expect to be good at every single one of them.

Sometimes, your best course of action is to find someone else to do specific tasks for you. This frees you to work on more important things that you enjoy and are good at.

Let me give you an example. A friend I know spent hours setting up a new printer. All in all, it took her about 6 hours. Afterward, she was frustrated and downright angry.

Instead, she could have hired a tech-savvy person to set it up for less than $50 and spent 30 minutes writing an email to her list inviting them to buy her latest product.

She would have been way ahead financially and could have spent quality time with her family. But she didn’t… because she stubbornly insisted on getting the printer to work herself. Does that sound familiar?

We all do this. We waste time on things we’re not good at and that we don’t enjoy doing. In an excellent book that I highly recommend called “The Big Leap”, author Gay Hendricks calls it the “Zone of Incompetence”.

Think back on the past few weeks and make a mental tally of the times you worked on things you’re not good at. Things that ended up taking much longer than they should.

Don’t misunderstand me, I’m not talking about learning something new that you strive to get good at.

I’m talking about the things you know you have no talent for or no desire to improve upon. There’s a difference and yes, you should invest time and resources into learning things that will move you along and help you reach your goals.

What I want you to realize is that there is a difference. Sometimes the best course of action is to find someone else to do those tasks for you.

Don’t let tasks that can easily be delegated take your precious time. Don’t let them hold you back from making progress and moving forward with your success habits. Find someone to help you get stuff done and spend your own time on the tasks you excel at and that only you can do.

Knowing When to Invest in Learning and When to Outsource Work

When was the last time you learned something new that would help you in your online business?

It’s easy to get complacent and stick with what’s working. It’s also easy to get busy implementing what you know is working.

While maintaining the status quo is important, there’s a time and place to learn and try new ideas and strategies.

In short, there’s always room for improvement and as an online entrepreneur, you should never stop learning.

Our world is fast-paced, and the online community is full of change and evolution. Much of what worked well a few short years ago is almost obsolete now.

Some evergreen strategies like email marketing that have always worked will continue to work.  These days there’s always a new idea, a new twist on even the oldest and most reliable of concepts, that’s worth exploring.

Ready to try? Pick something new you want to learn this week. It doesn’t have to be anything big.

Consider trying new software like an app or plugin. Perhaps a new traffic-generating strategy sounds interesting. It could even be an improvement on something you’re already doing.

Maybe it’s digging deeper into learning about copywriting. Whatever the case may be, figure out what you want to learn, and then start studying. That’s the first part.

Now comes the most important part. Implement what you’re learning right away.

It’s easy to fall into the trap of being a perpetual student. There’s so much fun and exciting new information out there.

It’s also easy to go from course to course and buy product after product without spending the time to go through them and implement the strategy. While that makes for a nice hobby, it won’t help you grow your business until you put the information to good use.

The basic habit you must get into is to find something that moves you a step closer to your goal. Learn how to do that (or do it better), then implement what you’ve learned.

Then pick something else that gets you close. Rinse and repeat weekly. What you choose to learn is up to you and depends on where you stand with your business and your goals.

Sometimes we need to learn something to realize that it isn’t the thing we want to do ourselves. That’s ok. At least you have the basic knowledge you need to effectively outsource work.

Sometimes we learn something, try it, and it doesn’t work for us. It happens.

Often, we still get something out of the experience that may help us in a different area or later in our business.

It’s important to remember that we must continue looking for new tactics and strategies as well as ways to improve what we’re doing already.

Keep honing skills and getting better at what you do. Most importantly keep implementing what you’re learning so your business grows and thrives right along with you.

How To Outsource Work

One of the most important lessons online business owners and entrepreneurs have to learn is that they can’t do it all on their own.

Trust me, it’s a hard lesson to learn and something I struggle with. We like to be self-reliant and do it all ourselves.

While there are times when doing it yourself is a great goal (when you’re first starting out for example), you’ll get to a point where it’s no longer to your advantage to do everything yourself.

And, sometimes when you’re starting out you really do need to outsource to create a solid foundation for your business as quickly as possible.

Your first step to outsource work is to pinpoint where you need help. These are some questions you may want to ask yourself.

Is Something Holding Me Back from Future Growth?

These are the things that stop you from moving forward. If you keep putting things off because you don’t know how to do them, outsourcing could be the way to get you over that hump or through that bottleneck.

Could Someone Else Do This Better or More Efficiently?

Some tasks are just not our favorite things or not something we’re good at. If writing blog posts, or social media marketing aren’t your thing, consider outsourcing them to someone who could do a better job than you.

If you struggle to format your eBook or update your website and it keeps you from presenting the professional image you’re looking for, hire someone to do this for you and focus on the stuff you’re good at. This is a great time to outsource work.

Would Delegating This Free Me Up to Do More Important Work?

The most important question you can ask yourself about outsourcing is will it be more profitable to pay someone else to do this.

You could continue to take care of customer service emails or make pretty social media images. But what if you could spend that time finishing your first info product or crafting a new marketing funnel for your coaching program?

What are your most valuable tasks? What can you outsource to give yourself more time and focus to work on those?

Now that you have a short list of things to consider when you outsource work, it’s time to pick something to start with and find someone to outsource it to.

Your best place to start looking is fellow online business owners. Ask for recommendations. Start with something small and work out the kinks.

No outsourcing relationship is going to be perfect right out of the gate. Be patient, and correct and train this person to complete the work the way you like it done. Then start scaling it up.

Go back to the list you made earlier in this post and find something that’s holding you back. Or find something that will free you up to work on more important tasks that make you money.

Always be conscious to keep your outsourcing profitable. If you can continue to increase your bottom line by outsourcing, you can continue to scale it up.

I’m Kim Nelson, a business owner for more than 20 years of both online and brick & mortar businesses, and a retired 25-year career paramedic. Follow me at KimNelsonOnline.com to learn more about growing an online business.