Why outsourcing can help your blog and how to get started

Happy Sunday all! Today I wanted to share my journey of outsourcing work-how it’s helped my blog, how easy it is to get started and why you don’t need to be a limited company to do so. Outsourcing is something I’ve been experimenting with since the start of the year and it first, I wondered if I was doing it far too early (I worried I was being a bit pretentious or felt it was only something huge bloggers did).

However, it’s revolutionised the way I work and has helped me take on so many more projects. Today I’ve teamed up with App Paye a super-simple, effective payroll solution for small businesses and bloggers like me- to share my journey of outsourcing and tips to get started.

Why you should Outsource

‘Outsourcing’ is when you take the jobs you hate the most (or perhaps the ones that are the most time-consuming or you know that you aren’t great at) and pay someone else to do them instead. The beauty of freelancing today is that this can be super flexible. You don’t necessarily need to take on permanent employees but might want to find some ad-hoc help for things like…

• Making pins: If Pinterest is part of your traffic strategy, it can be way quicker to pay someone to create a bundle of Pins for you.
• Checking broken links. Who has time for this?
• Social Media scheduling: Even more important now Twitter doesn’t allow duplicate tweets.

It might seem counter-productive to outsource these things, but they’re often things that take the most time and could be done far more efficiently by someone else. If you spend an hour faffing around finding the perfect pin-then you may well be able to earn more money in that time; if you dedicated an hour to pitching for sponsored post or networking, and paid someone who’s much better at it to create a bundle. Here’s another more in-depth post on the benefits of outsourcing.

How to manage outsourcing

So far, so good. But how to go about it? Do you need to set up as a limited company? How can you do everything above board? Here are some of my top tips for managing outsourcing…

-There’s no need to set up as a limited company-unless you want to. A limited company has many benefits but if you’re happy as a sole trader, you can still outsource and pay workers! App Paye is a new payroll system that allows you to pay workers without being a limited company.

-Sometimes it’s worth spending a little more. When I first outsourced, I used sites like fiverr and also found a VA that offered low rates. I thought it made sense to pay as little as possible, but the time I spent chasing them and redoing the work meant it was actually worth spending a little more!

Now, I outsource a lot to my lovely friend Emma (here’s her blog; I’d 100% recommend her for VA work) and we’ve built a great working relationship. It was worth taking the time and money to find someone reliable; it will SAVE so much hassle and money in the long run.

-Make sure payment is secure. One thing that worries me about Paypal is that things can obviously be refuted and I’m always nagging people to send invoices. Once you invoice, you’ve no idea if that person is declaring it on their taxes etc and  AppPaye keeps payment in one place; with payslips and the ability for them to upload hours and then helping ensure tax is deducted.

The freelancer/contractor can also just press ‘pay me now’ button; making payments secure and so much easier than faffing around with bank transfers. I can log on to the app and see the hours I’ve outsourced and clear record of payment. I’m hoping that companies I work with in the future might also consider this as a payment method-as freelancers are offered benefits like BUPA healthcare that regular employees would have!

-Use the time gained wisely. The whole point of outsourcing is to maximise your time; so make sure you put the time you’ve gained to good use! You might choose to dedicate one hour a week to a passion project or tackling introductory emails! There are a few books worth reading about outsourcing, such as The Four Hour Work Week (although that takes it to the extreme!)

I hope you’ve found this blog post useful. And remember: don’t be afraid to outsource! You don’t need to be earning lots of money to do it and you may very well find it boosts your blog traffic and earnings! Once you’ve set up, do take a look at App Paye to help you navigate payments. I’d love to hear your experiences of outsourcing:would you do it? has it helped?

*This post is in collaboration with App Paye*

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