http://www.mindhack.com/10-strategies-to-build-your-company/ - Learn how to successfully outsource your business.

1. BY CODY MCLAIN

2. SHOULD I OUTSOURCE MY BUSINESS OPERATIONS
We all have our own idea on what outsourcing is.
It might mean a lost job to some, or a time giving
haven to others. One thing is true though, it is
one of the fastest growing markets worldwide.
Outsourcing is something many entrepreneurs
may eventually gravitate to. When I was running
my first few companies I did everything involved
to create the infrastructure.

3. 10 EFFECTIVE TIPS IN OUTSOURCING YOUR BUSINESS
Then I outsourced my customer
support to India. It’s of no shock-
and-awe when I say the majority
of the outsourcing comes from
India and the Philippines.
With this, there are many things entrepreneurs fail to
consider when hiring an outsourced company, or full-
time freelancers. I’ve outlined 10 key strategies
inside to ensure the stability of your business.

4. #1. DO NOT START OUTSOURCING FOR AT LEAST
1-2 MONTHS FROM YOUR LAUNCH DATE.
This is really the most important part that many
entrepreneurs procrastinate over. You’re already doing a
lot, why not outsource this, that and before you know it –
you’re outsourcing your entire operation.
When you start a company, you need to be
the mastermind. If it’s your own company
then it’s better to do as much as possible
from the beginning so that you can
tweak the infrastructure,
and fix any issues.

5. #1. DO NOT START OUTSOURCING FOR AT LEAST
1-2 MONTHS FROM YOUR LAUNCH DATE.
It’s important to optimize your business from the inside out,
and get as many perspectives as possible in order to ensure
your business runs as efficiently as possible.
However, at the same time it’s pretty inefficient to run your
business this way. It’s hard (but not
impossible!) to spread yourself over
12 hours, working day and night.
Which brings me to my next point…

6. #2. DETERMINE YOUR WEAKEST STRENGTH,
AND OUTSOURCE THE REST.
We’re not all superman. So it’s understandable that we will
always have a mammoth amount of things we need to do but
don’t have the skills for.
It’s important to know what your weaknesses are, but I don’t
recommend time growing them. You should however have a
base understanding about how every aspect of your business
functions.
Your skills, and your employees can’t function
efficiently though without a…

7. #3. PROJECT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM.
Working with a virtual assistant online can
be quite disorganized if you don’t establish
an organization system.
A more efficient method is by using a
project management system. The most
popular being Asana, Basecamp and TeamworkPM.
Alternatives that I love are Azendoo and Redbooth.
Out of all of them though, I think my favorite is Redbooth.
The application seems more centered around easy
delegation.

8. #4. THE RUNDOWN ON SUPPORT SOFTWARE
(ZENDESK VS FRESHDESK VS DESK.COM)
If you run a company, whether be software or service based, you will
inevitably need to outsource the support depending on how involved
you are.
Most importantly, you need to understand it’s features and what
you will need for your business 3 years from now.
It may be cheaper to start with the built-in
support system but it’s easier to grow
when you have all the right systems in
place for your future growth.

9. #4. THE RUNDOWN ON SUPPORT SOFTWARE
(ZENDESK VS FRESHDESK VS DESK.COM)
Keep in mind, the easier it is for you, the easier it will be for your
employees – and likely customers. In terms of my recommendations
would be to consider Zendesk, Freshdesk, or Desk.com.
I’m glad to see they just didn’t sit on it and let the money role in.
They poured more money into the company and developed a
tight-nit integration with their existing
product and others on the market.
I think they’re all great, but in terms of
feature/cost analysis, Desk.com wins.

10. #5. STOP CHOOSING THE ONE WITH
THE CHEAPEST SUPPORT.
Many small and independent business owners shop based on
price thinking that every support company is the same.
This is a fatal error that can have
Devastating impacts on customer
loyalty with your business.
The cheaper guy, or the cheaper company may not always be
what’s best for your business. So keep that in mind before you
pick simply based on price. It’s much harder to repair your
reputation than it is to grow your company.

11. #6. DOCUMENT COLLABORATION
(DROPBOX VS GOOGLE DRIVE)
Organization is super important in life, but is enormously
important to the success of your business. It’s easiest to use a
cloud syncing file system – like Dropbox or Google Drive.
I consider Google Drive the best thing in this case as they have
a full office suite of editing tools. Not to mention the available
extensions in the Google Apps market makes it compatible with
just about everything, from powerpoints, mindmaps, and
countless others.

12. #7. ACCOUNTING SOFTWARE
(XERO VS QUICKBOOKS)
You need to have a system in place to record payments. Now
for accounting I highly recommend Xero over any other
accounting software.
Your accountant will also be able to
extra all the reports she needs to file
your taxes.
Furthermore with Xero you can easily setup automated rules for
each merchant to ensure it is automatically categorized and all
you have to do is approve the transaction.

13. 8. KEEP A PAYMENT LOG
While you can log payments via the accounting software.
Nothing beats being able to look at a quick excel spreadsheet
showing all the payments for each contractor/employee on
what date and payment method.
I recommend doing the same even for an outsourcing
company, as it allows you to be more conscious of your
monthly support cost.
In fact, here’s a link to a payment sheet I
made you can use to keep track of payments
with your own team.

14. #9. SOLID NON-DISCLOSURE-
AGREEMENT (NDA)
When outsourcing, you want to have a good document
that covers everything. With hiring a virtual assistant it
may mean putting in the date they start, expected job
expectations, salary and pay date.
It’s easy to find example NDA’s you can find simply by
searching “contractor nda template” but I highly advise
you to get it reviewed by a lawyer.
One way you can get that is by…

15. #10. OUTSOURCING YOUR
LEGAL DEPARTMENT
There are a few options when you’re just starting out.
You could either have nobody, and just outsource the
business registration to a service like LegalZoom’s
Document Review service which will review documents
for $10/month.

16. #10. OUTSOURCING YOUR
LEGAL DEPARTMENT
Legalshield, Legalzoom, or any other pay-by-month
lawyer service is of course not even close in terms of
quality of a real law firm.
Legalshield lawyers often never more than glance at the
documents you give them and do their bare minimum
with any request or conversation to get you off the
phone.
At only about $40/month it’s not a huge expense but has
the potential to save you thousands, and your business.

17. FINAL THOUGHTS
The methods I proposed above were things I discovered through
trial/error and personal experience.
The foundation on which you start your business is the most
important one of all. This is why that initial dedication is extremely
important as only you fully understand your business and what
your customers needs are.
While by no means this is a conclusive list, I hope I provided some
ideas on functional ways you can structure your company, and do
outsourcing around it.

18. THANK YOU
By: Cody McLain
Blog site: www.mindhack.com
Follow me: @codymclain