What to outsource (and what to do yourself)

Every job requires tasks that you don’t want to do. Even dream jobs, influencer-lifestyle jobs, cushy corporate jobs. They will all, at some point, make you do things you dislike. When I was a barista, I had to clean toilets and mop floors. When I ran a production company, I had to let team members go.

When you run your own business, this reality makes it difficult to decipher which tasks you should be doing, and which tasks you should be outsourcing. Since every job has annoying, unpleasant tasks, how do you decide which ones to do yourself, and which ones to outsource? 

To make the decision clear, think of a table with 4 quadrants mapping how willing you are to do something, and how able you are to do it. 

For me, I’m willing and able to create content and speak at events. These tasks are things I should be doing as much as I can. No use in outsourcing.

I may be willing to do my own graphic design and edit my own podcasts, but realistically, I’m not able to. This quadrant is a trap, because it can become a big time-waster.

I’m able to run ads, but so far I haven’t been very willing to do it. This quadrant shows me that I should probably suck it up, and just do it myself. The sooner I accept it as a part of the job of running a product-based business, the better off my business will be. 

I’m not willing or able to do my own taxes. So I outsource that. That’s an easy decision, because there’s no temptation to do it myself, because I don’t want to. 

Hope this helps!