Episode 53: How to Ask for Help from Your Spouse or Outsource Even When You’re Just Getting Started

You don’t have to be have a very busy business to start considering outsourcing. It can often help to lighten the load on yourself by outsourcing things you dread doing!

The first step is to take a step back and look at what you’re bringing in, then evaluate how much you would be able to set aside to fund outsourcing.

You should make a list of your top three dreaded tasks; these could be social media and marketing to mailing and printing. This list is the tasks that you should attempt to outsource. Remember that it is a good idea to turn to friends and family who might be able to assist in one of these areas and wouldn’t mind earning some extra income on the side. You can also make use of freelancer platforms like Fiverr and UpWork.

There are so many things that can take up your time without making you any money. Look out for and consider small things that your spouse or children could help you with that would just make your life that little bit easier without needing to spend any money.

You don’t always need to give up your income. But remember that you can’t grow your business without making time to work on developing it. Paying for tasks to be done so that you don’t have to is a good way to find this time.

Full Transcription Below

Speaker 1 (00:00):

Hello, coming to you today to let you know that I’m currently running a flash sale on the bookkeeping basics bootcamp. And I’m doing this because I have just added in some really awesome tax information. I’m helping you understand the basics of taxes you may need to consider as an entrepreneur. I’m walking you through how to prep for your tax preparation in QuickBooks, and then I’m walking you through how to get it to your accountant or how to import it into the turbo tax software so that you can seamlessly and easily get all of that in there with a click of a button. It’s great information, and I’m so excited to be bringing it to you. So not only are you going to get all of the benefits of what’s already in there learning about your business financials, learning how to do them in QuickBooks, learning what you need to do each month or each week for your business to make sure that you have an accurate set of books. But now you’re going to also have tax information. So grab it now while you can, through tomorrow, Friday, March 12th, you get a hundred dollars off with the code flash sale. All right, now it’s time for today’s episode.

Speaker 2 (01:05):

Hey, business-minded mama. I’m so grateful that you are here and that you are ready to grow enough, authentic community and scale your impact. Hi, I’m Stephanie. Parenza the voice behind business-minded mama podcast, local and small business advocate and entrepreneur. I’ve created this community because I want to help business minded mamas. Like you build your dream business by finding your authentic community and gaining control and clarity on the financial aspects of your business by managing your own books. Now let’s tap into your own potential. Hello, coming

Speaker 1 (01:49):

To you today with a really great episode. Um, I think it’s super important as moms and as entrepreneurs to consider some of these helpful tips, uh, to consider getting help. And so today I want to talk about how to ask for help from your spouse or even outsource when you’re just getting started. You don’t have to be a busy, busy business to feel like you can outsource or ask for help. I think it’s okay to be ready. And open-minded to this from day one. So things you want to consider when you’re thinking about outsourcing from day one is, um, obviously you probably don’t have a lot of income to work with, so you don’t want to go negative, of course. So really step back, see what you are bringing in and what makes sense financially, once you’ve done that, and you kind of know how much money you can use for outsourcing, make a list of the top three things that you absolutely dread, things that you don’t want to do, whether that be social media market or email list or bookkeeping, whatever it may be.

Speaker 1 (03:12):

Just make a top three list of the things that you absolutely dread doing. They bring you no joy. They’re only going to slow you down and it would be better to find someone that actually enjoys doing this. Okay. So start there once you’ve done that, I think it’s now time to consider one, which of these is going to fit into your budget. And if you don’t know, then this is where you just do a little research. So figuring out what’s going to fit into your budget and figuring out if there are any of these things that do you know, do you have a friend already or an acquaintance that may be interested in helping you with this? Is it something your spouse can help you do as it’s something you’re a sibling or your mom or a cousin or someone, you know, might want to make a few extra bucks on the side would be super easy for them to learn, even if it’s not their thing.

Speaker 1 (04:01):

And they’re willing and able think about all the potential there even before going to, you know, the third party sources like Fiverr Upwork or reaching out on social media, for those who may be in that industry, think about who you might be able to reach out that is in your circle to help you out, because it may help you save a few bucks. And so I have briefly mentioned your spouse. Um, it really just depends on, uh, their workload, your kid, your kid life, you know, is it more beneficial for your spouse to help you with kids versus helping you with other stuff? I will tell you that I have had my husband helped me sort paperwork while we’re watching TV, we’re put stamps on envelopes. For me, there are so many little things that eat away at my time that don’t make me any money that I really just try to think outside of the box.

Speaker 1 (04:52):

Is this something we can do while we’re sitting by each other, watching a show after the kids go to bed, can he help me? Can he stamp things? Can he full things? Can he, um, alphabetize, uh, really simple things. You’ve got to start thinking about anything and everything that you may need help with. Do you have documents that need to be scanned or printed or mailed or whatever it may be start thinking of how you can ask your family for help. Even if you have kids, if they’re old enough, how can they help and be an outsource, um, for you without costing anything, maybe they get a dollar for, uh, running back and forth to the printer, you know, five times for you, whatever it may be. Think if, think of all the little things, think of all the mindless tasks that you can ask your family for help for, um, during this process.

Speaker 1 (05:44):

Okay. So circling back to your top three things that you do not enjoy and that you would love to outsource now, depending on your budget, you may not be able to do all of it right now, but I want you to keep that list. Let’s just say number one in your budget for now, figure out, find someone that can do that. Find someone that has the potential, perhaps to do number two and three, eventually as you start making more money, keeping in mind that outsourcing is hard and outsourcing is hard because, and I know this from experience. You don’t want to give up your income, but what you have to remember is that you can’t grow your business. You can’t grow your income without help at some point. So as hard as has hard as it is to pay someone, even when you’re not making that much, giving yourself that extra time is going to help you figure out a way to grow your business, whether that be taking on more clients, having more time to market your product, having just more, um, work-life balance, bringing you happiness, making you want to be more focused in your business during your work time.

Speaker 1 (06:54):

All these little things will really make a huge impact in the growth of your business. Start there even from day one. Even if you find that you can’t get any of it to fit in your budget, having that list and knowing what you really want to eventually outsource will hopefully give you enough drive to work towards that goal. And then eventually you can have help and more help and grow and all will be good. I hope you find these tips helpful. If you have more questions, I will not say I know everything about outsourcing. Um, but I can give you some recommendations of what’s worked for me personally, if you’d like them. So reach out to me or come to our Facebook group, ask a way there. I’m sure there are some more people in our community who have outsourced or are outsourcing, and they’d be happy to give their recommendations. I hope to see you there and everyone have a great day. I’ll see you again soon.

Speaker 2 (07:46):

Did you write what you heard on today’s podcast or do you know a business minded mama that could benefit from hearing this, take a screenshot and share best with your community? And don’t forget to give me a review, want to chat more? Find me on Facebook and the business minded mama Facebook page or on Instagram at Mrs. And SIS or through my website, www dot business-minded moma.com.