As an online course creator, you will without a doubt start out doing everything 100% yourself. Then there will come a time when your time is diminishing as your client numbers rose, as your time will be best spent where you are at your best - working with your clients directly.
It is at this point in your business journey that you begin to contemplate outsourcing certain tasks to others, to build a support team for your business.
This can be a super scary stage as you need to relinquish that firm hold on everything that you do, and it can be very hard to find the perfect person to help you.
And that's because many entrepreneurs and course creators think that they can find the magic elixir that is a duplicate of themselves.
It's just not possible! You will never find one person to hand off the multiple tasks that you need to get help with in your business.
And for this reason, I suggest the best way to start with outsourcing is on a project based scenario. And at a time when the help isn't critical.
VA's (Virtual Assistants) have many specialities that can help you, and the process of training - or onboarding - a new VA will take several weeks. Be prepared to schedule this is, as without the right training into how your company works, a VA will not be able to give their best.
Often the VA is not who you need for your first hire, but instead a specialist to help you with a particular project - such as a graphic designer to design your brand, info graphics and other elements that make you stand out from the crowd. I don't recommend hiring a designer until you have a solid view on what it is you do and who you want to serve, as otherwise the questions the designer will ask you at that first meeting will send you spinning...
Copywriters and Social Media Managers will need to learn your "voice" before they can take a lot off your plate. Think of these people as helping create your content, or schedule it, but you will still have to be there to respond as you, as well as provide them the direction and images that are to be used on the posts.
Which brings me neatly round to hiring a photographer. Everyone these days needs a bank of great photos showing themselves as well as props of their trade.
The good news is many brand photographers in the last year have learnt how to run virtual photoshoots... which means you can stay at home and have photos taken through your smart phone! It's super clever and does involve some tripod use, but the results are amazing.
Here are a few examples that were taken virtually of me, at home in the Spring of 2019 when the world was in lockdown over the virulent Covid-19 that swept the world.
Website designers and SEO specialists are generally project based in work, and can get you up and running to welcome in your first clients. Do note that SEO is an ongoing task, and you should budget a monthly sum to keep on top of this if you wish to benefit from organic searches.
Paid advertising is one area that I do recommend you invest in an expert for, as the options are vast and it is very easy to waste a lot of ad spend when you don't know what you are doing! Most advertising agencies will tell you to make any impact you need to budget on $10 a day minimum to test your market and the message.
Of course there are many more specialists and options available to outsource tasks to, and so where I suggest you start is making a list of the tasks that you love doing, the ones, you are OK at and then the tasks you hate doing... then take the ones you hate doing and make them a priority to outsource.
Aa mistake many business owners make, is waiting until too late to outsource elements, and as a result they are exhausted and overwhelmed, and can't find the time to onboard new team members... leaving them in a downward spiral of chaos - don't let that be you!
Last Updated, April 18, 2021
Published by Susanna Reay, March 14, 2021
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