One of the things that I had a heard time wrapping my head around was “Outsourcing”. For some stupid reason I convinced myself that I had to learn everything about internet marketing and do it all myself too. Whet the hell was I thinking?

People that need a hole can buy a drill, they can take the time to drive over to “Home Depot” peruse the power tool section and find a good deal. Then they bring their shiny new drill home and read the users manual before they make their hole. The entire process took about 2 hours… At least that’s what you would think right?

Here’s how that analogy relates to internet marketing… Marketers that need a whole go to google and begin researching “hole drilling” After several hours of surfing they end up opting in to 5 hole drilling lists and purchase 2 ebooks on drills and bits. Next they download a “FREE” drill assembling blueprint.

Next, they go to home depot and buy the motor, the handle the chassis, the power cord and the bit mount. Then they realize they need some specialized tools and electronic supplies to put their drill together so they order those online and wait 12 days for them to arrive. Once they have their special tools, parts and blue print they begin assembling the drill themselves.
Once completed the drill does in fact turn on and spin, however it isn’t powerfully enough because they settled on the cheaper motor in order to afford the special tools. The hole doesn’t quite turn out the way they wanted and by now they are so frustrated that they give up on it all together and blame the hole drilling industry for their embarrassing failure.

I know you are in the business of building websites not drilling holes but do you? One of the keys to succeeding in business and in life is to KNOW YOUR LIMITATIONS. There comes a time where you must face that it simply makes sense to let someone else do something for you in exchange for money. Let the experts do their thing FOR you while you leverage your time.

For many of us this seems like a great notion but we convince ourselves that we can’t afford to outsource. I personally did this to myself without ever even having looked into the prices of outsourcing. Did you know there is a website where you can get tasks done for you for $5. Yes, five dollars. The site is called www.fiverr.com, and for more complex tasks there are sites like Vworker.com (RentaCoder) where YOU can name your price and watch people bid on your job.

Any part of your business can be outsourced, specially those tasks that you dislike. I use a simple formula, if it will take me more than 1 hour to complete and someone else can do it for less than $100 then I outsource it. Period. What’s your formula?