We’re continuing on in our series of questions you should ask yourself when starting your business or wanting to revitalize it…
- Am I outsourcing the right tasks?
When George and I first started this business, we did EVERYTHING…nothing was outsourced. Everything was in-house. We still mostly operate on this basis, but we’ve discovered there really are good reasons for outsourcing some things. For instance – neither George or I can act or do voice-overs well. We suck at it, actually, so we outsource for acting talent or voice talent. That was a smart move. We have, however, made mistakes in outsourcing – namely our previous interns. Now, I know that’s technically still in-house, but it’s only in-house if I am diligently supervising the interns. If I just accept their work and send it out, assuming they did a fine job, I might as well be outsourcing. I’ve made that mistake a couple of times but now we scrutinize every piece of work they finish – not only to maintain our quality standards, but also to help the next generation learn the correct way to do it. It sometimes seems mean, but it’s necessary.
So – how do you know what to outsource and what not to? That depends – are you currently flush with money or time? If you have more money than time, outsource all of your menial tasks. If you have more time than money, maybe it’s time to begin some online learning to make yourself better in your weak areas! If you’ve got a good balance of both, that doesn’t necessarily mean you’re in the clear…you also need to ask if some of your time could be better applied to an area of your business you’ve been lax in – maybe sales? Maybe financial management? Maybe people management? If your time can be better applied elsewhere, it might be a good idea to invest some money in menial tasks so that you can attack the bigger issues.
- Who is my role model?
If you don’t have one, you need one. For the big picture of life, my fav is Jesus. But to bring it more down to my level, I also greatly admire a few women in my life who I speak to regularly, and a few I follow on FB. I HIGHLY recommend that your main role model be someone close to you. If you only model your life or business after a celebrity or business guru online, you’re missing half the story. Those people aren’t perfect, but you’ll never know it, cause all they present is the perfect moments. If you have a local mentor, you can see their perfect AND their messy moments which helps give you a more realistic life and work expectation. I’m not saying “screw celebrities”, but I AM saying that following them creates unrealistic expectations. I’m just sayin – keep it real!
And don’t forget….however it is that you decide to run your Colorado small business, we are here to help! Colorado multimedia production is what we do! That means providing Colorado with professional video production, professional graphics work, website design and hosting, social media assistance and virtually any other print, online, or AV media that you can think of! Call or email us to see how we can help propel you forward!