Hiring and outsourcing are your best friends as an entrepreneur. Why? They’re the best ways to get yourself out of overwhelm and to create an environment where you can focus on your strengths and on the key essentials – the things you do best that contribute to the growth and success of your business.

Many entrepreneurs run small businesses and are used to doing everything themselves. Outsourcing feels scary – there’s the hurdle of having to find a new team member, the challenges of training them and having them meet your exacting standards, and of course the daunting expense of hiring or outsourcing. A new or small entrepreneur’s instinct may be to keep doing everything they possibly can themselves to save money and ensure that everything is up to their expectations.

This generally isn’t a recipe for long-term success or growth, though.

If you’ve followed me for a while, you know that I’m big on the concept of essentialism, taken from Gregory McKeown’s famous book of the same name (get yourself a copy here!). Essentialism is the concept of getting only the right things done, rather than getting more done in less time. It’s not a time management strategy or a productivity technique, but a systematic discipline for discerning what’s absolutely essential and then eliminating everything that is not, so we can make the highest possible contribution toward the things that really matter. Check out my blog post on essentialism here, where I talked about how the concept changed my life.

For me, running my own busy interior design business, I’ve discovered that the route to success is for me to focus on the essentials and on what I do best. Outsourcing the rest – to the right people – has changed everything and helped me grow Crystal Collinson Interiors.

Here are my top tips on outsourcing:

#1: Figure out what your essentials are

Whatever is core to your business – your key strengths and values – are the main things you want to keep doing yourself. These are the essentials. Your core competencies and capabilities are how you can add the most value to your business and how you can focus on being the best at what you do and the best in the industry.

#2: Determine who you want to hire, and how

Do you want to hire an accountant or payroll coordinator, a social media manager, or a virtual assistant? Get super clear on your needs – and on what the applicant’s skills and responsibilities should be – before you start your search.

And when it comes to hiring, start close to home – with your own network. Think of people you’ve enjoyed working with in the past, ask work colleagues or other business owners, or reach out to your extended network to see if they can recommend a provider offering the services you need. If you’re active on LinkedIn or another social platform, ask your network for recommendations.

#3: Learn how to be a great manager

When you’re used to doing it all, learning to manage a team can be a whole new set of challenges. You might lean toward micromanagement, assume your team members know how to do things the way you want them done, or get frustrated when they don’t meet your expectations. This is all perfectly natural, but you’ll want to improve your management skills so that you and your team can work well together and be successful. Search for articles on communicating outcomes clearly, managing deliverables and expectations, and motivating your team. There’s a lot to learn here, and it will benefit you immensely if you choose to outsource!

Another great resource for hiring is Episode #67 of my podcast, The Productive Designer Podcast, with Jamie Van Cuyk. It covers how to create a successful hiring process and is full of excellent tips! Check it out here.

If you’re an entrepreneur or small business owner, have you tried outsourcing? If so, how did it go? If not, what’s holding you back? Connect with me on Instagram, Facebook or LinkedIn, and let me know!