How to Make Your Entrepreneurial Dream a Reality

Mary saw it coming. The economy had dramatically impacted the company she worked for and there were several of pink slips handed out on Friday afternoon – her job had been axed, along with the jobs of several of her coworkers.

What now? She and her husband had talked about the possibility of a lay-off when the economy first slumped, and Mary had said at the time that she had dreamed of owning her own business. In her spare time she painted watercolor and friends and family had encouraged her to pursue it as a career but she had never had the nerve or opportunity. Until now.

She spent the weekend enjoying time with her family and talking about the future. That Monday, she officially went into business for herself… although what it meant was still a puzzle. She wasn’t great at sales. She couldn’t design a website to save her life. Bookkeeping wasn’t a strong suit. But she could paint!

Many business owners find themselves in this situation and desire to break through but cannot. They know that a variety of skills are required to run a business (marketing, sales, administrative, etc.) but no one is equipped with all of those skills. Should they partner with someone? Should they just push through and hope for the best? Should they ignore their entrepreneurial dreams and pursue the 9-5 job?

Mary didn’t. She painted because that’s what she was good at. She also called an outsourcing firm.

An outsourcing firm is one that provides a number of services necessary to run a business but are often not core to the business. In Mary’s case, she hired an outsourcing firm that could create and maintain her website and blog, answer a telephone around the clock when orders came in, handle her finances, and even track down corporate leads and make sales.

Outsource firms make business possible. They allow business owners to focus on the core of the business – the thing that they entered business to do – by doing for the business owner all the other things that need to happen for the business to run: administration, marketing, sales, finance, you name it.

Outsource firms make business possible in another way. Aside from helping the business owner focus on the core of their business, outsourcing also makes sure that the phone can be answered 24/7, or that there is always someone available to answer questions asked through IM or chat on the website.

And, outsource firms make business profitable. One of the challenges of businesses (especially those operating in today’s economy) is the problem of staff. Hiring staff can be costly. And what if sales decline? There is overhead to consider, too. But outsource staff can scale with the business, increasing as the need demands and decreasing if necessary. This keeps costs down (and more closely tied to sales than a salaried employee would). And yet another profitability factor – time spent on the right things. Business owners should be focused on their area of expertise and, if possible, on sales and marketing. Everything else takes away their attention from those more important tasks.

On her own, Mary’s painting would have remained a dream and she would be out with her resume looking for another job in a very difficult hiring climate. But with outsourcing to help her, Mary’s business prospects look bright.

To be successful in today’s highly competitive global market, businesses need to find creative solutions to their business needs. If you are starting a business, or are running a business right now, there’s a good chance that it will be a stronger business when you put more of your focus on the core and push the non-core activities to an outsource firm.

About the author: Heather Villa, MBA CMA MSM, is a Business Coach and Entrepreneur. She helps business owners achieve success in operations, productivity, project management, and social media. Read her other articles at http://hireheathervilla.com/resources/articles/ and visit http://heathervilla.com for more information.

Disclaimer: © 2009 Heather Villa. Permission is granted to repost this article. Article must be published in its entirety, including author bio, and all links must remain intact.

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3. The False Economy of “In-House”
4. Get More Done with On-Call Help
5. The Value of Outsourcing