What do you outsource?

Discussions
#22

Yes–it is absolutely the thing you need to do (document and create processes). But there are limits to this. For example, with my WordPress plugins there are integrations we support and those 3rd party plugins have limits or quirks I can’t fix or create a process for. Often, I’ll create an FAQ article for it–but I still have to answer that question 3x a week (my support volume is about 1000 emails/month, more or less–anything I can do to reduce it is helpful)

That’s an example of what I meant above. It’s process-documented and there’s no more value in my participating in the conversation anymore. Create the FAQ, tell someone when to answer the question with it, and boom–move on.

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#23

The one thing I have learned over the years about outsourcing is this:

Never outsource something you don’t understand.

We outsourced our CPA / tax filing and didn’t understand it, only to find out (after getting audited) that our CPA was giving us terrible advice. It was only after reading a book on small business taxes myself that we were able to find a really good CPA that was affordable and knows what she is doing. (The IRS agents refer to the CPA as the “Can’t Pass Again” exam because most CPAs are terrible).

We’ve outsourced a number of other things over the years, and the same rule always holds true.

Understand something fully before you outsource it. That’s the only way you will know that they are doing their job correctly.

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#24

@howtogeek. Could you please share the name of the Book and maybe even the name of your CPA. Thank you :slight_smile:

#25

Two books: Tax Savvy, and Deduct It, both by by NOLO.

#26

Thank you @howtogeek! I am in middle of researching CPA. I thought that just having a CPA title I was safe. Thank you so much. The book you recommend will help me find the right CPA? Thank you so much for you valuable input and wake up call. :slight_smile:

#27

No, the book will help you understand small business taxes.

#28

@howtogeek Do you have any advice on how to find the right CPA? Or maybe some that you may recommend?

#29

I run a small PHP dev shop so ignoring the obvious developers & project management:

  • Accounts. Initially just end of year accounts, then book keeping & payroll, now invoicing, chasing payment, setting annual budgets, updating cashflow, setting pricing, working with PM to analyse time-sheets to ensure we’re billing for everything, ditto inefficiencies. This has definitely been a huge time saver for me and we’re billing more and earning more margin
  • PA 20 hours per week, mostly from home but in the office 4 hrs per week. Life saver; I only wish I had done this sooner
  • Copywriting - one who understands marketing
  • PPC - just started so we’ll see if it is successful
  • Housekeeper & nanny - 2pm - 6pm so my wife & I can come home from our respective work at normal times and my kids still get fed
  • Web Ops - the only bit of tech I still enjoy doing myself, but I don’t have the time to do it justice

Next:

  • Mentoring / mastermind
  • SEO - once I’ve done a bit of work myself to understand what contemporary best practices are
  • Support (from this thread, thanks!)
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