6 Huge Outsourcing Mistakes That Are Leading You To Burnout!

Today I’m talking you through six huge mistakes that people make when outsourcing that then leads to burnout. Now, it’s gonna sound counterintuitive because you might be thinking, but I’ve sourced, so I don’t burn out. Now, there is truth behind outsourcing in order to prevent burnout. But equally, if you’re not aware of the biggest mistakes that you can make which then leads to burnout.

Anyway, then this week’s content is for you this week’s blog this week’s video, because as you know, I’m also known as burnout Slayer. I founded the burnout Slayer toolbox, which ultimately is what it says on the tin. it’s given female business leaders, the tools that they need in order to prevent burnout.

Now, throughout your business journey, especially when you’re in the growth stage, you will be feeling stressed, you’ll be feeling overwhelmed, there’s so many different things to juggle, you’ll start doubting yourself because you’re overwhelmed and you feel like there’s too much happening. And that then leads into the scanning stage, and it’s usually in the scaling stage that people burn out, and it comes along, really quickly, or does it.

So, most of the time people burn out because they have not looked at the trigger points, and they have not looked back on those on those kinds of problems that they’ve been having so if they’ve been feeling overwhelmed and stressed out. Sure, that’s normal in business, but if you were feeling overwhelmed and stressed out continuously. That then leads to burnout. Although people will think burnout, it just happens out of the blue. There are warning signs that happen before you hit that point.

And if you’re not aware of those warning signs and if you’re not acting upon those warning signs.

Then you are on the road to burnout and it’s not a good road to be, because coming back from burnout can take months, sometimes years to really recover because it’s our body’s way of saying, slow down. And that ultimately is what I want to prevent people doing, I want to prevent people when they’re on this road to burnout from continuing on that road.

I want to be able to provide them with solutions that are going to help them stay off, because no one wants to stay on that road. So that’s why this week, I thought it would be really really interesting, if I spoke about the six huge mistakes that we find that business owners are making when it’s coming to outsourcing because people that outsource it still get burnt out, and there’s a reason behind that. So, are you ready for this week’s content.

1. Outsourcing too soon

Now, what I mean by that is that you are outsourcing. Particular tasks or strategies that you haven’t really tested out and you don’t know if they work. Now, if you outsource too soon. You’re going to feel that you’ve got a struggle but between afford it. Financially, and that you’re going to struggle with what to give the person that you’re outsourcing to. So if you give them a task, and that task doesn’t doesn’t provide any return on investment. Then you’re going to feel like it’s not working.

In order to outsource successfully, it needs to be the right time.

And this doesn’t mean that you need to say okay I’m getting a bit busy now I need to outsource. Because that’s what usually ends up in tears. Effectively, because you spend all this money on outsourcing and you’re still struggling. And you’re still pushing through because you’re not seeing your business grow and you’re not seeing your business flourish.

And that’s ultimately what we want. So if you are very new to business, and you haven’t quite got your strategies now down of what works in order to get those sales through the door for you. Then I would, I would really really recommend that you focus on that first. Because by outsourcing just any task that may or may not work. You know you’re hedging your bets there and you’re kind of hoping for the best, and it’s not really good business sense because you want to make sure that what you are outsourcing your wants to do is going to grow and take your business forward.

2. Surprise surprise, no systems or processes

Now, this is something I would say 90% of our clients, come on, don’t have systems and processes. It is a really really difficult question, and I know that people will say, but I don’t have time to do that I’m already overwhelmed. Now, the problem is if you don’t have systems and processes in place. It’s very very hard for you to be able to see what’s working, and for you to be able to train someone else to do this particular thing. So what usually ends up happening is you outsource a particular task.

Then the person that you’re outsourcing to does it as they would do it, but it’s not how you want it done. So you end up then either redoing it or asking them to do it, which again, you’re then paying them double to do the same task. It’s also when it comes to actually training, the person that you’re outsourcing. So, if you don’t have any systems and processes there, it’s very very hard to train someone to do something. The time that you would have spent, putting into creating your systems and processes, you’re going to be using double if not triple that amount of time to train someone manually to do it.

It’s much much easier for you to put that time into creating your systems and processes now and then to hand that off to someone. Because it’s going to take less time for you to do, the more liquid training someone. And therefore, you’re going to be saving money by doing so. And what you’ll also find is most of the time if you are outsourcing so say you’re outsourcing to a VA.

When they come on board, you will be paying for their time to learn your particular way of doing something.

If you are training them and you’re spending, say, three hours, for instance. Doing one task or training them how to do it. You are effectively paying for you to have that time out of your business to train this VA to do this task for three hours. And you’re also then paying the VA for three hours to sit there and learn your particular way of doing something.

That then has led to six hours that six hours of time and money that you are spending on this particular task. So going back to point one, where we spoke about. If it’s too soon, and if you’re outsourcing the wrong things. If you have been spent six hours of your time and money training that particular person to do a strategy that you don’t know works.

Of course you’re going to feel like you’re going backwards. So make sure that you invest some time in creating your systems and processes and start with the easiest ones first. That’s going to make you feel better about incorporating that further down the line.

3. Lacking clarity

Now, this is also linked to outsourcing too soon, so if you’re new to business. You have probably gone in as self employment or maybe a limited company. But you’re doing this particular thing, and it’s a thing that you’ve done in a job or it’s thing that you’re excellent at that you’re an expert at. And you’ve brought that into creating your own business around that.

But there’s so much more to business than what it is you are going to deliver. So as an example here, if you are a marketing consultant. What does that business look like, And it’s very hard if you’re new to business for you to be able to see what your business looks like. So, I’ll give you a bit of an insider knowledge here so I started my business about five or six years ago now, and it’s only been the past 18 months that I have got clarity on what my business and my future business looks like so.

And I was kind of working part time so that can be sooner for some people that are working completely full time in their business.

But equally, you need to make sure that you are clear on where you’re going. Because otherwise if you’re not clear on what your business looks like and what your business offers. How are you meant to put that across to someone that you’re outsourcing to.

It’s so important for them to know your business. They’re not going to know your business as you do, but they do need to know the foundational elements of your business. And that is what your business model is, what your business goals are. What your future goals are. So they can help you get there. If you don’t know those points, how, how is someone else going to help you lead your business that way. So it’s really really important to get super super clear on what that looks like for you.

4. Wrong team

Now, I always find this, and it usually comes hand in hand with the previous mistakes that I’ve mentioned. So, people end up hiring too soon. They don’t really know the strategy that they want to outsource and they don’t know if it’s going to work, they don’t really have the budget, so they outsource based on cost.

And that’s the biggest and most common mistake that I find, and that’s because you’re outsourcing and you’re paying.

As an example here, if you’re paying a virtual assistant 25 pounds an hour to do said task. And you have trained them to do it, you’ve told them what to do that task doesn’t bring any return back to your business. Because you don’t really know if it’s going to work. You have paid 25 pounds an hour for that particular person to do something that isn’t really needed.

You could then pay 35 pounds now, as an example for a virtual assistant. But you were feeling comfortable because you know the strategy you were given that virtual assistant works and that strategy. Then brings you a return, and therefore you are getting more money back in your business than what you’re paying out for that virtual assistant. Whereas if you’re paying the 25 pounds for the virtual assistant that you’ve just got doing a task that doesn’t really bring you a return.

All you’re doing is investing, you’re not getting any return back.

So that’s really really important is show costs are going to come into your decision. I’m not saying that you shouldn’t decide on your team based on costs. But what I am saying is you need to be super super clear on what that looks like, so you can then see the person that you need to hire to do that particular job. If you don’t have a marketing strategy in place for instance, and you ask a virtual assistant to just do the marketing stuff for you. The virtual assistant is not a marketer.

So, if you had a marketing strategy that had been set up by marketing consultant. And you outsource that to a virtual assistant, you’re going to know that that’s going to get done. Because it’s the implementation that’s getting outsourced is not the strategy. And that’s really really super key when it comes to outsourcing to a virtual assistant.

Always remember, you’re outsourcing the implementation, not the strategy.

So if you are not clear on what that looks like, don’t outsource it to a virtual assistant. Because you’re going to waste money and time bringing that person into your business on something that just isn’t going to work.

5. No foundations

And this again goes hand in hand, you’ll see throughout these mistakes that I’m talking about. Most of them go hand in hand together. And that is around the foundations of your business so tracking your metrics, and your goals. Automating streamlining and these are all things that you should be looking at before outsourcing.

Making sure that you’re tracking your metrics for your marketing

As an example or your sales or your finances, so you know exactly where you are financially and in a marketing and sales capacity. If you’re not tracking those metrics, you are not going to know if a particular strategy is working for you.

Therefore, how can you outsource that strategy if you don’t know if it’s bringing you a return your goals, so not having your clear goals set and not being able to say to someone. This is the number I want to hit, and they know exactly what he’s what’s expected of them. As an example, if you’re outsourcing to a launch support Pro. So if you’re launching a new offering. And you’re outsourcing that you need to say to that person once asked, hey what’s working with and they know what expectations you have.

So you were then able to clearly communicate that out to your team and automating before you outsource.

You should always look to automate, because most of the time. Most tasks are mundane that can be done, and don’t really bring you a return, but they need to get done most of them can be automated, you don’t want to pay someone to do this task for you if it can just be done through automation and streamlining again pulling out the stuff from your business that isn’t working, if there’s stuff in your business that isn’t bringing you a return, and you’ve adapted it and is still not bringing you a return.

Send it off, put it on the polls, until you’re going to re, re look at it, if you want to further down the line, making sure that you are taking stuff out of your business and replacing it, not always adding things in. So what tends to happen is as business owners we see, oh, a new shiny Strategy Guide to add that into my business, but you haven’t taken anything out of your business you want when you’re adding new strategies you want to replace them. So you, your old strategies in your business should be replaced with your new strategies.

Don’t just keep adding things to your, to your heart because you’re going to overwhelm yourself because you’ve got all these strategies that are happening, how on earth are you going to get through them because you’re already struggling to get through the ones that you already have. So, streamlining is your friend. Don’t be scared of streamlining

6. Outsourcing the wrong things

So, I’ve spoke about this throughout, and this is all around tasks that don’t bring you a return. Do not outsource tasks that do not bring you a return, they should bring you a return of either time, money, or joy. And if none of those do don’t outsource them, because if you’re outsourcing something that doesn’t really need to be done, you are wasting that valuable asset and time that you could spend on something that is going to bring your return and does need to be done.

So you may have things that you think, Oh I’m just doing this because it’s on my list and someone told me to do it.

Don’t outsource that thing, because here’s key here in your business, your business is unique to you. What works for someone else is not necessarily going to work for you. And that’s so important to keep in mind. So when you are looking at your business.

And someone else says this has worked really well for me. Don’t take that as gospel that that’s going to work really well for you. Make sure that you are outsourcing the things that bring in your return. So I hope that’s helped. It’s been so so good, putting this together this week because I think it’s something that a lot of people don’t think about, because they think of outsourcing as being the answer to all burnout problems. And it’s not if you’re making these mistakes.

So I’d love to know what you think of this week’s content and if you have any questions if you want to run through with me your plan on how you can slay that burnout and go onto the road of for growth and scalability. I would love to hear from you. Till next time, bye.