By: Kevin Gardner​

Starting your own company may pave the way toward fame and fortune, but that distinction is a prize that must be won. The commercial landscape is incredibly competitive, and small businesses have the deck stacked against them. To even the odds so that you can survive and thrive, you’ll practically need to find a way to be everywhere at once. Delegating tasks is a good place for any business leader to start, but these tips can help you further expand your reach by strategically deploying personnel.

Outsourcing Labor
Running a business is a complex endeavor, primarily because there are a lot of moving parts. With so much going on, it’s hard to stay on top of everything at all times. The good news is that you don’t have to do so alone. Finding the right workers to meet your needs is essential, but this doesn’t always mean hiring the right person. In many cases, the best call is not hiring a new employee with a certain skill set, but rather, it’s a matter of outsourcing labor to a trained specialist. For example, outsourcing court reporters Portland Oregon is an important tactic for courts, because staffing with this position in mind doesn’t make much sense when the labor is dependent entirely on the whims of the judicial system at large. Similarly, marketing is a crucial consideration for businesses of all shapes and sizes, but it’s almost universally left in the hands of marketing firms when a business’s budget can possibly cover that cost. One of the best ways to stay on top of your business’s innerworkings is to hand those responsibilities over to someone who can reliably take care of those concerns for you.

The notion of outsourcing labor may raise some red flags. While outsourcing is a tried-and-true practice that benefits businesses tremendously, it still constitutes an additional expense. This can be a problem for smaller businesses, especially if those costs aren’t considered in advance. Likewise, depending on labor from another company exposes you to the risk of finding subpar partners that can really leave you twisting in the wind, so to speak. However, some due diligence on your part can help you minimize those risks from the word go.

Remote Employment
Hiring remote workers is a similar tactic in some ways, but remote and outsourced labor are two different things that address different needs. For starters, remote labor is inherently limited to what can be done using only a computer and an internet connection. This distinction means that many remote workers are tending to menial labor such as administrative work. While this limitation is very real, it’s ultimately a very small price to pay, because these same clerical responsibilities are typically present in every industry under the sun, allowing just about anyone to make use of remote employment in their businesses. The benefits of remote labor are many. One of the most notable from the employer’s perspective is that it drastically reduces the cost of a given employee. Simply put, paying a remote worker’s wages is far more beneficial for businesses than paying those same wages to an on-site employee with additional needs such as utility usage.

Remote employment is not without its downsides. For starters, it’s often more difficult to keep remote workers on task without direct oversight. On the other hand, the lack of human contact and structure an employee can typically expect in an office setting can have a negative impact on the mental health of your staff. These factors can be addressed, however, by conducting regular video chat meetings or by recommending time management tips to your staff.

Taking a Break
At first glance, the advice to take a break when trying to accomplish more may seem counterintuitive. However, switching your focus from an all-consuming task to something less demanding gives your brain a chance to recharge. Try focusing for 50 minutes and then taking a 10-minute break to walk outside, get a glass of water or talk to a colleague.
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As a business leader, your willingness to take breaks sets a good example for your employees and demonstrates that mental well-being is a key component of your work. In fact, if production or manual labor is part of your job, frequent breaks can reduce fatigue and keep employees safer.

Developing Employees’ Skills
Requiring your employees to learn their jobs as they go may seem like a time-reducing measure, but it can backfire. Workers who are learning on the fly can be unproductive and under a lot of stress. These factors can lead to quick burnout and possibly a high turnover.

The extra hours or days needed to train your employees are an investment in your future as well as theirs. You can help your staff work with skill and confidence, getting them to the point of performing efficiently on their own. Meanwhile, you optimize your time as a leader by reducing the need to correct errors and answer questions.

One of the biggest challenges of managing a small business is simply not having more hands and/or heads. There’s a lot going on in the average business, even in small ones, and the punishments for mistakes have higher stakes. These tips can help you get the job done by trusting in human resources.