Outsourcing as a Way to Add Value to Your Online Business

Outsourcing is a popular method of business management. Involving third-party performers relieves headaches and saves a lot of time – up to several hours a day. It is logical to spend the freed time on solving strategic problems.

What is essential for an entrepreneur planning to buy a ready-made website with income? Investors are interested in the amount of profit and the time required to do business. The more money the site brings in and the less effort it needs to maintain, the sooner you find a buyer and the more expensive the company will be.

To maximize profits, you need to do business independently, without allocating a budget to external performers. But complete control over all spheres is a painful task for one person. Therefore, it is difficult to call such an activity a business; instead, it is an independently organized workplace.

At the same time, while making life easier for the business owner, outsourcing requires a constant injection of funds: no one works for free. An entrepreneur planning to sell an internet business is faced with the challenge of increasing the value of an asset by making it as autonomous as possible while maintaining profitability. They will have to decide which tasks to give third-party performers and how not to work at a loss.

Multiplying Effect  

When evaluating internet businesses, multipliers are used – they are unique coefficients that reflect the ratio between the company’s market price and its income. The formula considers the state of the enterprise’s business: the more good, competitive, and autonomous it is, the greater the multiplier.

Many factors affect the multiplier, but we are interested in one of the main ones – the time the business owner takes to develop the business. The complete outsourcing of most business processes to third parties looks tempting to you and an investor seeking to secure passive income. But how much will this decision cost the buyer later?

Consider the main questions you should ask yourself when deciding to outsource a particular process (when preparing a business for sale).

Will someone do this task better than me?  

Nobody is perfect. It is a mistake to assume that you can cope with any job “perfectly well.” It is much more reasonable to delegate current tasks to professionals – they will manage several functions faster and better than you. This is especially true for SEO (search engine optimization), advertising campaigns, and web analytics. Even a typing specialist will make your life easier by getting rid of routine paperwork.

Will the buyer decide that I am holding on too much?  

There are many companies on the market whose success is associated with the owner’s name. As soon as they leave the company, it collapses: the talent, professionalism, and reputation of the creator go after them. The client’s concerns may be justified. How to dispel investor doubts? Hire an outside manager. If the online store works without you as efficiently as with you, the buyer will have nothing to worry about.

Is it too difficult what you do in business personally?  

The buyer is interested in a highly profitable business that does not take up all their free time. They may go to another seller if they see that they will have to study complex technical issues. By outsourcing specialized tasks to external performers, you convince the client that they do not need to spend time exploring problems  which are not actually in their sphere.

Do you enjoy doing this?  

Not all work is equally interesting. To see this, look at the tax reports. It is more logical to delegate the solution of routine tasks to professionals. For example, a customer who intends to buy a ready-made online auto parts store will be happy to know that they do not need to pack the goods and regularly update the assortment on the site.

How much do you earn per hour?  

Outsourcing makes sense when using it allows you to earn more through the efficient allocation of resources. Reaching the perfect balance between income and the time required to receive it is necessary. Before transferring all matters into someone’s hands and thus attracting those who want to buy your ready-made internet business, make some financial calculations.

Work Efficiency v.s. Attractiveness to the Buyer  

So, you spend 20 hours a month on accounting. But maybe you can do this job faster? Before hiring a contractor, find out how you can improve your productivity. For example, try taking an online accounting course, improve your excel skills to automate routine calculations, and talk to colleagues about the right reporting program.

If we talk about optimizing the time for customer service, it will become easier for you if the FAQ section appears on the site. You will breathe easier when hundreds of letters with the same questions stop coming to your corporate mail. Compiling such guides can be the first step in describing business processes for a business buyer. A detailed manual with photos and schemes of work will help the investor quickly master important tasks and add points to you as a conscious seller.

However, some buyers are afraid to drown in the wilds of management issues and make mistakes. Therefore, it is better to simplify their life by preparing an alternative in the form of trained performers ready to take on the most labor-intensive operations.

Your task as a seller is to find a balance between task delegation and profit maximization. In this case, the business will be sold as quickly as possible.