You are bound and determined to create the greenest possible business. That’s great! It is important, though, that in your goal to reduce your company’s carbon footprint that you don’t go too far. For example, the last thing you want to do to “green up” your business is to downsize your team (as crazy as it sounds, some entrepreneurs really do get a little overly zealous and try to take this approach). Yes, having less people on hand means you will use less power, take up less space, etc. It also means a lot more work for you.
Nobody succeeds in a vacuum and if you want your business to truly succeed, you need to have a really great team backing you up. This doesn’t necessarily mean, though, that you have to house that entire team in your office. On the contrary! This is the future!
Working remotely is en vogue now. So, no matter what you might have heard, outsourcing some team duties to freelancers and other companies is beneficial for you and your business. Here are some of the things that can be done remotely and by other professionals.
Accounting
When you were starting your company in your garage and averaging a sale a week, keeping track of your finances was relatively simple. You might have even been able to do it with a simple Excel spreadsheet and TurboTax. Now that your sales volume is much higher and you have actual employees, managing your money has gotten a lot more complicated.
In addition to tracking money in and money out, you have to manage payroll taxes, benefits, etc. It’s too much to do on your own.
You could hire an on-site bookkeeper and accountant but, as a small business, you might not have the budget to afford bringing someone on full time. This is why many small business owners will hire off site accounting firms to help them manage their books, payroll and taxes.
IT
A lot of small business owners and entrepreneurs prefer to hire IT professionals to work on site. The problem with this is that, when things are running smoothly, there isn’t a whole lot for your tech department to do. You’ll essentially be paying someone to sit around all day just in case something goes wrong. This is why so many small companies outsource their IT needs to companies who can help monitor and fix problems remotely.
If you aren’t sure about outsourcing to someone you don’t know, choose a local company that can perform the work on site when it is needed. This offers you the best of both worlds. Your IT needs are covered but you aren’t paying a full time salary to someone who doesn’t have enough to stay busy.
Social Media and Marketing
A lot of companies choose to outsource their social media and some of their marketing needs (like their content and copy creation) to independent contractors and freelancers. This saves you lots of money because you’ll be paying per project instead of per hour and because these professionals are working remotely and independently, you don’t have to find space for them in your offices.
You can choose to work only with local pros–this way you can have on site meetings and strategy sessions–or you can embrace technology and hire people from all over the world (which helps you choose the very best professionals for the job instead of just the best out of the people nearest you).
Maintenance and Repairs
As you know, keeping your office structure in top physical shape is important. Cracked walls left unfixed, says MDTI, can lead to the need for major foundation repair (an expensive undertaking). Unless your small business is a property management company, you can definitely outsource your office space’s physical maintenance and repairs to the companies that provide them.
There is no reason to have a full time general contractor on site. Hiring specialists to see to your various maintenance needs is cheaper and better for your company and its offices.
Takeaway
Outsourcing is a great way to help keep your spacial needs and power consumption low. It also helps you make sure that all of your business needs are covered. With a great team of remote professionals backing you up and ready to step in when needed, you can have the greenest and most profitable business in your market!