Are you overwhelmed sometimes? There is a lot to do in your author business. I know, I’ve been there. I’m not a published author but I have been a business owner since 2013 myself.
Writing stories looks very fun from the outside, but it is demanding. Especially when your business is growing rapidly. And then overwhelm is showing its ugly head. Maybe you’ve come across different reasons for outsourcing, but you haven’t really noticed them.
Let’s dive a little deeper to see if you are ready to outsource some of your tasks and to bring someone into your author business.
What to do? Three choices
The way I see it, you have three choices when your author business is getting busy.
One: Push through
you can go on and just push through. Make some extra hours to get everything done. But how long are you going to go on like that? When will it stop? Pushing through often leads to mistakes. And mistakes need to be fixed, which only takes you more time (and often money). Besides, going on and on also leads to burnout. And nobody wants to go there, am I right?
Two: Postpone
you can postpone some tasks. Simply skip them for now and reschedule them to a day or weekend when you have some time to spare. Well, let’s be honest, that is never gonna happen. Postponing results in dropping that task altogether, although you know you need to do it. These tasks are most of the time tasks that in our minds won’t impact our business directly, like our administration, but also writing that blog post.
Three: Outsource
you can put your big girl pants on and do some research, see if you have any reasons for outsourcing. Be the business owner that you are and look into these reasons. You don’t have to do it all by yourself you know, but some activities are part of your author business whether you like it or not.
What will happen if you don’t outsource?
You…
- Burnout
- Lose interest from readers
- Can’t keep up with the trends/pace of the industry or social media
- Need to learn yet another skill
- Have no time to write anymore
- Lose interest yourself in writing
- See sales dropping
- Lose out on potential money
- And so much more….
So let’s look into …
9 Reasons for outsourcing in your author business
1. You don’t have time to do it all, although you know how to do it.
There comes a time when you are overwhelmed by all the tasks you need to do to keep your business going. In the beginning stages of your business, you wear all the hats and you do everything that needs to be done.
But there comes a point where you don’t have time anymore to take on all those tasks. Certain ones take so much of your time that other tasks keep getting a place on the back burner. So even though you know exactly how to do them, one of the top reasons for outsourcing is that you simply don’t have the time anymore. It is time to outsource some of your tasks to someone else.
2. You want to spend your time elsewhere, for example with friends and family
As business women, we spend a lot of time building our businesses. There is a lot to take care of and everything takes time. You only have so much time in a day, time you need to spend elsewhere as well.
You have your family with whom you want to spend time, friends who need your attention, and a household to look after. And I’m not even talking about me-time. Because be honest, looking after yourself comes last on the list, right?
When the balance is tipping over to working constantly in and on your business, you’re losing your sparkle. Remember when you have a family, you want to give them your attention. Kids are growing up so quickly and before you know it they are young adults ready to spread their wings and fly the nest.
3. You just don’t want to do certain tasks anymore
In the beginning stages of setting up a business, everything was interesting and exciting. Finding out how to do things and celebrating when they worked. Do you remember that feeling or is it just me?
After a while certain tasks lose their shine and they become yet another thing you need to do in your biz. It can even come this far that you start resenting that task and just don’t wanna do it anymore. But you know it is important to your business.
This is a sure sign that you want to outsource that specific task. Because if you keep on doing tasks that you don’t want to do anymore you are going to be unhappy about your business.
4. You wanna explore more areas of the business
Starting your writing and turning it into a business means you do everything you can do in the time given. You get good at the different tasks that need to be done. And you might even have a good rhythm going on in your schedule.
But there comes a time when you want to look beyond what you’ve been doing so far. Maybe you want to take new beginning writers under your wing and coach them. After all, you know the tricks of the trade, so who better to learn from then a seasoned author like yourself.
Or you want to start public speaking at author conventions. Another form of sharing what you know as a writer and treating your writing as a business. But also a great way to promote your books and your brand as a whole.
What about writing a book with another author? Co-writing is a different ball game than being the only one who’s in charge of the story. A podcast could be a fun addition to your author business where you talk about your processes or educate new authors and business owners who want to start a business of their own.
However, where do you find the time to do all that? That’s right… by outsourcing some of your tasks to someone else.
5. You need more expert skills to do the job or do it better
We’ve already looked into some great reasons for outsourcing. This next one is one to consider as well.
As you might know, we can’t be good at everything. Some people are excellent storytellers, some people know how to promote products like your books, and other ones are experts at writing entertaining and engaging blog posts and newsletters that convert.
Practice makes perfect, right? And yes, I know, it doesn’t always have to be perfect. But becoming a great author isn’t something done over-night and neither are other skills. Sure we all have our talents, but even talents need some maintenance. If you wanna do a better job or learn something from scratch you need to put time (and often money) into it.
And time is the one thing you don’t have. So by remotely outsourcing the tasks that need more attention, you solve two issues with one single action. You gain time to put elsewhere in your business (or outside the business if you like) and the job is getting done (sometimes even better).
6. You wanna scale your business
There comes a time, where you hit a ceiling and growth is difficult or even stagnant. Whatever you do, it’s not working because something is holding you and your sales back. It could be improving your visibility to reach more people. Maybe you are looking into getting your books in brick and mortar shops. Or you could gain more visibility by cooperating with other author businesses.
You can also reach more people by repurposing your content. This is a skill all on its own. It’s not just a matter of taking the blurb from your book and putting it on social media and hope for the best. Or translating an interview you gave on a podcast and putting it as a blog post on your website.
All of this takes time to set up and maintain. Time you don’t have because of all the other aspects of your business that need to be done. Wanting to scale is a sign as well it being the right time to outsource.
7. You want to focus on what you do best: write!
Thinking back, do you remember where it all started? Why you started writing and went into business in the first place? You loved to tell stories! Exactly! But at the moment, you only have a couple of hours to be creative during the week. The rest of the time is being consumed by other tasks. Tasks you don’t necessarily enjoy doing either.
You long for those days when you were just creating, just writing, letting the story unfold in your imagination. Now it’s almost always some other task that gets in the way of your time behind your laptop or in your writer’s nook.
Wouldn’t you love to give it all to someone else who knows exactly what to do and who is there by your side to grow your author business with you? Think about it, maybe this is your sign that you need that helping hand.
8. You can’t keep up with all the changes
Being an author means not only doing your writing, but also staying informed about what is going on in your industry. Not to mention all the constant changes going on on social media. You thought you had it all under control and then you blink twice and things are different again! Ugh…
It is almost a day-job to keep up with all the changes. You don’t have the time and honestly you have no desire to learn about them. This is the perfect time to outsource. Let the expert take care of those social media posts or your blog post that needs to be SEO friendly so Google finds it and shows it to your readers.
9. You need to take a break from your business
There comes a moment in life when you need to take a break from your business. Maybe you need time to take care of a loved one or you want to take maternity leave after your precious bundle is born. But you don’t want your business to suffer from it.
Being self-employed doesn’t mean you can’t take a leave of absence, it just means you need to have systems in place and people to help you out. And even when you are not “on the job” you still can earn money because you outsourced your blog posts and sales newsletters. People are still going to join your newsletter after they found you on Google or social media.
Now you can rely on systems and prepare a lot in advance. But that takes a long time, time you don’t necessarily have. Another alternative is to hire someone to help you during your time away from your business. Needing to take a break is an excellent reason to outsource tasks in your author business.
How to determine you need to outsource
It can be difficult to know if you need to outsource to another business woman, like me. Let’s talk about how to come to this conclusion.
Step 1.
Take a piece of paper, a notebook, or open up a Google Doc. Write down everything you do to keep your business running. Things like planning & research, writing your draft, editing, revisions, designing your book cover, formatting your book, marketing them on social media, writing blog posts to showcase your work, reaching out to your email list.
But also your administration, customer service, answering emails, bookkeeping, and so much more! Behind each task, write down how much time it takes you each day, each week, each month, however you wanna look at it.
Put it all down and out of your head.
Step 2.
Now go over your list and write down which of these tasks need to be done by YOU. Not which tasks you want to do or you think you need to do. The tasks that absolutely CANNOT be done by anybody else.
I bet there are a lot of tasks that you could possibly outsource to the right person.
Step 3.
If you outsource these tasks, or maybe a couple of them or even one, look at how much time you could get back into your day, your evening even! It can increase awareness of your business, increase sales, and you’ll make more money. Now you’re scaling your business!
So do some research for the right person to do the job for you.
(More on how to find the right virtual assistant or content creator and purposer in a later blog post.)
Why outsource content creation like blog posts, newsletters, and digital marketing?
I believe every business needs a blog, a place to showcase their products (for you that would be your books) to their customers (your readers) and tell all about their work. A blog can be used for so many things, like book reviews, client reviews, sales, and forming a community.
From there you can reach out to the people who want to learn more by writing and sending them your newsletters. Via newsletter you can inform your readers directly about publishing new books and other exciting inside stories. Through digital marketing like social media you can repurpose your blog posts and attract more people to your website, your blog, and your online store including your books and courses.
But a good article needs craftsmanship. It needs SEO (search engine optimization) to be found through Google. It needs to be entertaining, people like to read stories, that is what captivates them. But you know that already!
A good content writer and repurposer can help you with that. She knows how a blog post is put together and writes in your voice. Another good one for our list of reasons for outsourcing.
Outsource content writing or hire an employee?
If you have the feeling you need help, outsourcing content writing and content marketing to another business woman, like a VA or a content creator offering writing services like me, is a smart option. Why?
Let me briefly touch on the reasons why it’s a smart idea to outsource and call in the help of an freelance contractor.
- She is not your employee, so no benefits need to be paid by you
- You free up valuable time to concentrate on your main core activity, to write again
- This makes your work more enjoyable because tedious tasks will be done by someone else
- Another set of eyes on your business can be very refreshing and beneficial to your business
- If there is no click you can easily part ways
I will elaborate on this in my next blog post “What is a Content Creator for Authors and How Can She Help”. I suggest you will read it to understand exactly how an independent business woman benefits your business.
Let’s recap
When you are overwhelmed by everything you need to do in your author business, it could be time to outsource. The 9 reasons for outsourcing that it’s indeed time to call in the troops:
- You don’t have time to do it all, although you know how to do it.
- You want to spend your time elsewhere, for example with friends and family
- You just don’t want to do certain tasks anymore
- You wanna explore more areas of your author business
- You need more expert skills to do a job or do it better.
- You wanna scale your author business
- You want to focus on what you do best: write!
- You can’t keep up with all the changes
- You need to take a break from your business
When you are ready to outsource your writing tasks, like blog posts and newsletters, or you have a large amount of content already and want to put it to good use and repurpose it, let’s talk. I would love to see where I can be of assistance.
Check out my services pages. Or even better, book a call, free and no strings attached.
