Page 194 - The $100 Startup_ Reinvent the Way You Make a Living, Do What You Love

This is a recurring story, told many ways but with the same end result. There
are certainly exceptions, but many capable people who work as virtual assistants
often end up deciding they’d rather be running their own show. If you have to
spend your time correcting problems caused by the team created to support you,
the team hasn’t really improved your life. Meanwhile, it’s clear that others have
definitely benefited from harnessing the “get other people to do your stuff”
wave.

With such divergent opinions, how do you know which path to follow?
Thankfully, it’s not that complicated. The answer to the question of whether
outsourcing is a good fit depends on two things: (1) the specific business and (2)
the personality of the business owner.

Many of the problems people experience with outsourcing (on both sides) can
be avoided by having a clear understanding of the responsibilities that a
contractor or assistant will have. In a business that relies on a series of relatively
mindless, repetitive tasks, for example, outsourcing may be a good option. A
business that relies on customer relationships, however, may not be a good fit.

Your own personality also matters, because if you’re building a freedom
business, you want to find the best possible solution to match your vision of
freedom. For some people, that involves traveling the world on a low-overhead
operation, with the money from the business primarily going to support the
owner. Other people want to stay in one place and build a team, creating a
business that will outlast themselves. In the end, the best answer to the
outsourcing question is the same as many others: Do what makes sense for you,
not for someone else.

Barter, Family Help, and Housecleaning

Before we move on, let’s look at a couple of other forms of getting help. “My
entire business is a product of extremely beneficial trades,” says Brooke Snow,
who traded music lessons for photography lessons before going on to teach
photography herself. She also traded for website design, video footage, and tech
support. “These trades have saved me tens of thousands of dollars and have not
only transformed my business but are in many ways some of the very reasons I
have a business. It has allowed me to operate completely debt free with low
financial investment, low overhead, and a high rate of return.”

Several respondents mentioned that other tasks were “outsourced” to family