Entrepreneurs´s Journal


November / December 2003
Cast Your Burden - Time to Outsource
By Emily McHugh

As most budding entrepreneurs will attest, along with the exhilaration and sheer delight of entrepreneurship comes the Herculean task of realizing that most of the work to be done is all yours. A shrill cry rises above the accumulating mounds and crescendos into a serious scream for help. This is one of the hardest steps for an entrepreneur to take, acknowledging the need for help, and then actually getting it.

We all know that in the beginning, resources are scarce, but as you start to grow, even modestly, it's time to lighten the load. Recently, my sister Helena, who is also my business partner, and I had one of our strategy sessions where we try to divine trends and forecast demand. We listed all the areas that were devouring our time and taking us away from our respective core competencies - for her it is product development and design, and for me it is sales and marketing. One of our biggest time guzzlers was order fulfillment. The process of preparing and shipping orders can be quite tedious. Now don't get me wrong, having orders to fill is very good indeed, but be careful that you are able to make the process efficient so as not to interfere with continued growth.

For growth to take place, it must have the necessary infrastructure. The set up process may slow down other activities temporarily, but once everything is in place, you should be able to come up to speed very quickly. It is imperative to prepare for growth so that when it comes, you can spend time being proactive as opposed to only being reactive.

In order to address our order fulfillment dilemma, we decided it was time to outsource. Keep in mind that not all fulfillment centers are alike, so review them carefully and request references. I will go more in depth another time about how to select a fulfillment center, but now we will discuss how to decide when it is definitely time to consider a fulfillment center. It's time to get a fulfillment center when: 1) your whole day is spent in the basement packing boxes; 2) your UPS guy asks why you're still in your pajamas at 4 pm; 3) your parents can't stand one more box piled up in their living room and you can't find the couch; 4) your tape gun is still in control of you; 5) your greatest joy is derived from counting how many boxes you shipped that day, and last but not least, 6) your cat comes down to the basement to let you know it's time to eat or go to bed. These are telling signs. Get help and fast.

This is a normal positive phase of a growing business. The key is to know when to ratchet up to the next level so as to keep the momentum going. Outsourcing should be considered an extension of your company allowing you to do more than would be possible otherwise without the enormous overhead.

The future of the world's economy rests on how ingenious entrepreneurs are at outsourcing. In fact, it is increasingly common to do business with people on a daily basis that you have never seen and may never meet. The virtual company with "employees" scattered around the globe can make almost any basement operation evolve into an international enterprise. Casting one's burden has never been so sweet. So cast away!

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