By Kristin Savage

If you’re entering the start-up journey, you probably know that the odds are stacked against you: marketing for startup companies can be challenging. For every unicorn, there are millions of startups that fail. However, don’t let that discourage you – with the right strategy, planning and preparation, your startup can be a success. 

One of the biggest reasons for failure is a relatively simple one – a lack of funds. It’s really important to invest your time and money wisely in order to succeed. Most entrepreneurs know how important money is for their venture, but many underestimate the importance of time and efficiency.

When you start your journey, you want to finish all of your tasks as soon as possible. In doing so, you might find yourself working really hard but still not making any progress. For that reason, it’s important to consider outsourcing.

• Bookkeeping and Accounting

As a founder, you want to focus on your product and the market. Having someone to handle your payables and receivables is a huge time saver. Hiring an accountant who had similar clients in the past can provide immense value. Usually, accountants are well familiar with the many legal aspects of the business. Their advice will save so much of your money and time and will protect you from many legal pitfalls that start-ups encounter. 

“If you don’t have previous experience in bookkeeping, don’t think twice and outsource this work to a professional as soon as possible. It can take up so much valuable time that it’s simply not worth it – and you will see it in your analysis from the very first month of hiring an accountant”, says Kelly Haroldson, a writer at Studicus.

Startups are hard by default. If you add legal hardships and paperwork into the mix, they become much harder. Failing to abide by legal rules might have huge negative consequences for your venture, resulting in costly fines and other court measures.

• Administration

Tracking everything and everybody is probably not on your top priority list when starting a business. Of course, you want to be in charge and keep in control, but your initial start-up period is so important that you have to choose priorities. Managing paperwork and keeping up with all those small office tasks is not your top priority. 

Use some of these online tools for easier administration management: SalesForce (a CRM for keeping track of your leads and customers), Workday HCM (a software for listing your employees and work hours), TrustMyPaper (to find and hire professional writers), DocuSign (a digital document signer that will allow you to save time on printing and hand-signing documents). 

There is someone out there with a lot of experience and usually, their services are not so expensive. Having somebody as an administrative assistant will lift off many small and non-productive tasks of your shoulders, allowing you to focus on what matters and what’s most productive.

• IT

In the past, only the biggest companies had specialized IT departments. Nowadays, with the advancement and wide-spread use of technology, even startup companies need to have an IT professional. 

When talking about IT, we are not only talking about employing 10 programmers to develop your own company software. We are talking about the use of business apps in your daily operations. 

If you’re running a remote company, this is actually your top priority. Using online business apps and having someone to help you implement those apps in the best possible way is a must. Managing employees, data-sharing, security threats and many other aspects of an online business might take a really long time if you try to learn them all by yourself.

If your business is not technology-based or connected with it, you probably don’t need IT guidance. Even if that’s the case, always check with some IT specialists first and see if they could help your business to run more efficiently and productively. Chances are – they could help you.

• Writing

In your everyday business, you will come across many moments where you need to publish something: from corporate texts and promotional material to blog posts and emails. Writing can be extremely time-consuming if you’re not a professional.

So, if you’re running a business that’s unrelated to writing and content, you might end up devoting more time to this section of the business than your actual work. This is why outsourcing writing is one of the biggest recommendations for startups.

To find writing experts who can help you present your startup to the world, you can use some of the following services: Upwork (a freelancer network where you can hire writers,

translators and designers), GrabMyEssay (writing service website for content outsourcing) or Freelancer (where you can post your writing requirements as a project or a contest). 

• Finance and Banking

When it comes to starting a business, most people will complain about the lack of funding. When it comes to running a startup, most founders will complain the most about not having enough capital to run their business in a sustainable way. 

On the other side of the fence, many start-ups do receive serious investments from different investors and funds. Some of them even have huge amounts of capital right from the start. In this scenario, it can be overwhelming to manage the finances if you don’t have the experience needed. Your company now has to worry about funnelling those investments and about taxes and returns. 

It’s really important to have an experienced helping hand in this field if your company has reached this level.

• Human Resources

We always tend to think about startups in the following way: one guy or two friends have an idea and they decide to embark on a startup journey. The reality tends to be quite different.

The startup economy is evolving – now, there is a whole industry around it. From founders to funders, everybody is trying hard to gain an advantage over competitors. It is much harder to succeed alone or by having just one partner. Most of the time, you need a good team to help you out on your journey. 

Evaluating people, their talent, motives, and skills is not an easy job. It requires knowledge, skill and experience. If you hire the wrong people, this decision might have devastating consequences for your company. 

For this very reason, it’s good to outsource this assignment to an HR specialised firm. It’s really important to hire a firm with a proven record in a similar endeavour. If they don’t have the experience in helping a startup, you need to think twice prior to hiring them.

Making mistakes in a hiring process has not a monetary risk associated with it, there is a social risk included as well. If something bad happens, you are risking lawsuits and on top of that, a bad voice and image can spread around easily in our modern world.

In order to avoid those mistakes and risks, it’s better to outsource the hiring process and maybe even consider agency hiring, to cut down your potential risks.

 Conclusion

Starting a new company is hard, and every minute of your workday matters in the beginning. That’s why you should have a smart and strategic approach to what type of work you outsource and what you do in-house or yourself.

Generally speaking, all tasks that are not part of your core business activities can be outsourced. However, make sure you keep the equation in your favour by not over-outsourcing while you still have a low revenue. 

About the Author: Kristin Savage nourishes, sparks and empowers using the magic of a word. Along with pursuing her degree in Creative Writing, Kristin was gaining experience in the publishing industry, with expertise in marketing strategy for publishers and authors. Now she works as a freelance writer at SupremeDissertations.