We all love control. Control of the television remote, the amount of sugar in our coffee or the people we’ll sit next to at the next Wedding. It’s natural to want things done our way.

You likely have an accountant who provides specialist advice and knowledge for your small business. You hire the accountant because:

• they have specialist skills you don’t have
• they save you money
• they save you time
• they give you peace of mind, taking care of any tax compliance issues

Could you do the work instead of the accountant? Possibly. But chances are accounting is not your specialty. You would be out of your depth, it would take a long time and there’s a fair chance you may screw something up. So you outsource your accounting to your accountant who has specialist skills.

Small Business Success. Be a Generalist – Not a Specialist

It is simply not possible to learn every skill you need to successfully operate and grow your small business. Sure you can be the accounts director, the sales director, the IT department, the graphic designer and the copywriter, but your results in each field will be mediocre. Mediocre results stunt the growth of your small business.  You will never be able to compete with the specialist skills of an accountant, salesman, web designer and proven copywriter.

A great small business owner is a generalist. A great small business owner will understand their core competencies and will overcome their shortcomings by surrounding themselves with specialists. This frees up their focus, time and energy to ensure their small business remains on track.

Surround yourself with the best people you can find, delegate authority, and don’t interfere.
-Ronald Reagan

Benefits of Outsourcing Business to a Specialist

• Small business owner can retain their focus on other business critical issues
• Certainty of cost
• Provides a fast solution within agreed timeframes
• Provides you access to specialised skills
• Reduces the need to hire or train staff

You can outsource anything from graphic design, web design, copy writing, translation or video and audio production. Some small business owners have even found ways to outsource the operations of their entire online business.

My Small Business Outsourcing Recommendation is Elance

I use Elance for all my outsourcing needs. So far I’ve outsourced over 10 projects ranging from web design, logo design, copywriting, legal documentation and architectural floor plans. I know your cashflow’s tight. Mine is too. That’s the big benefit of outsourcing through Elance. You get control of everything.

Elance is an online hub of over 100,000 outsourcing professionals. This means you’re bound to find the right person for your outsourcing needs. Since its creation in 1999, Elance has generated over $245 million in outsourcing work. Elance was recommended to me by another entrepreneur back in 2007. It’s a life saver. I recommend it because:

You can browse providers for free and post a job for free

Besides an initial $10 sign up fee, you do not pay any ongoing fees to Elance

You can easily view the past work of providers and read feedback on their work

You can set the exact budget from $50 upwards

You have security knowing that Elance audits providers and has payment protection

You can save time and money. I have saved over $5,000 through Elance

Take 2 minutes and check out how it works:

Don’t think Elance is just limited to small businesses either. Large corporations also turn to Elance when they need a quality solution. Elance has helped Google, Facebook, Citigroup, Accenture and Harvard University.

Unsure if outsourcing’s the right option for you? There’s no harm in checking out Elance. Once you make the jump you will wonder how you ever survived without it.

• Visit Elance

Have you ever outsourced a project? What was your experience?