{"id":6328,"date":"2014-04-18T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-04-18T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/creator\/?p=6328"},"modified":"2020-03-30T19:07:43","modified_gmt":"2020-03-30T23:07:43","slug":"outsourcing-make-small-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/professional-development\/outsourcing-make-small-team","title":{"rendered":"Outsourcing: how to make the most of a small team"},"content":{"rendered":"

Although chaos isn\u2019t a word that startups want married to their businesses, sometimes I feel that they go hand-in-hand: The product or concept is constantly iterating, roles aren\u2019t always defined, and small teams typically carry the workload of ones twice their size. With team members wearing multiple hats and juggling tasks, it\u2019s important to know how and when to outsource some of the projects to keep your team working efficiently.<\/p>\n

1. Identify your team\u2019s core strengths and keep them in-house<\/h3>\n

The first step to figuring out what work needs to be outsourced is deciding what needs to stay. Since we\u2019re only a team of four full-time employees at PeachDish<\/a>, there\u2019s no way we can do everything on our own. Instead of finger-pointing people\u2019s weaknesses, we focused on everyone\u2019s strengths.<\/p>\n

Ask your team some questions: What does each team member do best? What critical tasks need to be supervised internally? What are the core competencies of our business? What part of your job takes a backseat to the things you enjoy most?<\/p>\n

2. Admit when something isn\u2019t 100% perfect and outsource accordingly<\/h3>\n

When you feel strongly about your startup (and I hope you do), it\u2019s easy to want do everything yourself. After a couple of months, it will wear on you. When there\u2019s so much your plate, no task is getting all of the attention it deserves.<\/p>\n

During my first three months at PeachDish, I tried to tackle all of the marketing and customer service. With the volume of customers increasing, I spent all my time following up with them through customer service emails and calls. This distracted me from my marketing responsibilities that I was originally hired to do. We also knew that customer service needed a lot of attention. When a situation like this arises, take a step back, and reevaluate. Find the distractions that can be handed off and act before you drown.<\/p>\n

3. Invest in the right fit<\/h3>\n

Once you know what needs to be outsourced, the most important step is finding people to do the job. We’ve had had great success using websites like Elance<\/a> and Odesk<\/a> to find lasting partners for customer service and tech support. Fiverr<\/a> is also great for when you need a smaller task completed, like handing out fliers, creating a graphic, or editing a YouTube video. Other times, it\u2019s about old-fashioned grassroots networking. We found our amazing social media team Imagine Media<\/a> and our box packing partners through referrals in Atlanta.<\/p>\n

4. Maintain contact and continue training<\/h3>\n

Once you have taken the time to find the right fit, it\u2019s important to remember that contract hires should be treated like full-time employees. Invest in their training, keep in constant contact, and make them feel like part of the team! We have regularly scheduled Skype calls or in-person meetings with all of our team members to make sure that everyone is on the same page and working together, no matter where they are located or how often they work.<\/p>\n

Startups can be chaotic, but with the right tools and contract help, they don\u2019t have to be. When you take the time to invest in the right people, the company can work more efficiently. Just remember to treat them like part of the team! Like any other employee, contract workers who feel happy and included are productive ones \u2014 especially when they\u2019re told how much they\u2019re saving your business!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Although chaos isn\u2019t a word that startups want married to their businesses, sometimes I feel that they go hand-in-hand: The product or concept is constantly iterating, roles aren\u2019t always defined, and small teams typically carry the workload of ones twice their size. With team members wearing multiple hats and juggling tasks, it\u2019s important to know […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1126,"featured_media":6363,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[43902],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6328","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-professional-development"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nOutsourcing: how to make the most of a small team<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Although chaos isn\u2019t a word that startups want married to their businesses, sometimes I feel that they go hand-in-hand: The product or conc\u2026\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/professional-development\/outsourcing-make-small-team\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Outsourcing: how to make the most of a small team\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Although chaos isn\u2019t a word that startups want married to their businesses, sometimes I feel that they go hand-in-hand: The product or conc\u2026\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/professional-development\/outsourcing-make-small-team\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Ideas\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-04-18T14:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-03-30T23:07:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2014\/04\/20140310-SoMa-111.jpg?fit=1280%2C853\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"853\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Alex Higgins\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Alex Higgins\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/professional-development\/outsourcing-make-small-team#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/professional-development\/outsourcing-make-small-team\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Alex Higgins\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/#\/schema\/person\/2e1df2e6016e451358f57f2f3441a693\"},\"headline\":\"Outsourcing: how to make the most of a small team\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-04-18T14:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-03-30T23:07:43+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/professional-development\/outsourcing-make-small-team\"},\"wordCount\":586,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/professional-development\/outsourcing-make-small-team#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2014\/04\/20140310-SoMa-111.jpg?fit=1280%2C853\",\"articleSection\":[\"Professional Development\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/professional-development\/outsourcing-make-small-team\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/professional-development\/outsourcing-make-small-team\",\"name\":\"Outsourcing: how to make the most of a small team\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/professional-development\/outsourcing-make-small-team#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/professional-development\/outsourcing-make-small-team#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2014\/04\/20140310-SoMa-111.jpg?fit=1280%2C853\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-04-18T14:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-03-30T23:07:43+00:00\",\"description\":\"Although chaos isn\u2019t a word that startups want married to their businesses, sometimes I feel that they go hand-in-hand: The product or conc\u2026\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/professional-development\/outsourcing-make-small-team#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/professional-development\/outsourcing-make-small-team\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/professional-development\/outsourcing-make-small-team#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2014\/04\/20140310-SoMa-111.jpg?fit=1280%2C853\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2014\/04\/20140310-SoMa-111.jpg?fit=1280%2C853\",\"width\":1280,\"height\":853},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/professional-development\/outsourcing-make-small-team#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"\/ideas\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Professional Development\",\"item\":\"\/ideas\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Outsourcing: how to make the most of a small team\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/\",\"name\":\"Ideas\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/#organization\",\"name\":\"WeWork\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2019\/04\/welogo_black_55x55.jpg?fit=55%2C55\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2019\/04\/welogo_black_55x55.jpg?fit=55%2C55\",\"width\":55,\"height\":55,\"caption\":\"WeWork\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/#\/schema\/person\/2e1df2e6016e451358f57f2f3441a693\",\"name\":\"Alex Higgins\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e0cd1f104a9486581359881e92fadab4b2c00b92eb34154ebea57cf9ab8918d7?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e0cd1f104a9486581359881e92fadab4b2c00b92eb34154ebea57cf9ab8918d7?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Alex Higgins\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/author\/alex-higgins\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Outsourcing: how to make the most of a small team","description":"Although chaos isn\u2019t a word that startups want married to their businesses, sometimes I feel that they go hand-in-hand: The product or conc\u2026","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/professional-development\/outsourcing-make-small-team","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Outsourcing: how to make the most of a small team","og_description":"Although chaos isn\u2019t a word that startups want married to their businesses, sometimes I feel that they go hand-in-hand: The product or conc\u2026","og_url":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/professional-development\/outsourcing-make-small-team","og_site_name":"Ideas","article_published_time":"2014-04-18T14:00:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-03-30T23:07:43+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1280,"height":853,"url":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2014\/04\/20140310-SoMa-111.jpg?fit=1280%2C853","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Alex Higgins","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Alex Higgins","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/professional-development\/outsourcing-make-small-team#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/professional-development\/outsourcing-make-small-team"},"author":{"name":"Alex Higgins","@id":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/#\/schema\/person\/2e1df2e6016e451358f57f2f3441a693"},"headline":"Outsourcing: how to make the most of a small team","datePublished":"2014-04-18T14:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2020-03-30T23:07:43+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/professional-development\/outsourcing-make-small-team"},"wordCount":586,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/professional-development\/outsourcing-make-small-team#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2014\/04\/20140310-SoMa-111.jpg?fit=1280%2C853","articleSection":["Professional Development"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/professional-development\/outsourcing-make-small-team","url":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/professional-development\/outsourcing-make-small-team","name":"Outsourcing: how to make the most of a small team","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/professional-development\/outsourcing-make-small-team#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/professional-development\/outsourcing-make-small-team#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2014\/04\/20140310-SoMa-111.jpg?fit=1280%2C853","datePublished":"2014-04-18T14:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2020-03-30T23:07:43+00:00","description":"Although chaos isn\u2019t a word that startups want married to their businesses, sometimes I feel that they go hand-in-hand: The product or conc\u2026","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/professional-development\/outsourcing-make-small-team#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/professional-development\/outsourcing-make-small-team"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/professional-development\/outsourcing-make-small-team#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2014\/04\/20140310-SoMa-111.jpg?fit=1280%2C853","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2014\/04\/20140310-SoMa-111.jpg?fit=1280%2C853","width":1280,"height":853},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/professional-development\/outsourcing-make-small-team#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"\/ideas"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Professional Development","item":"\/ideas"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Outsourcing: how to make the most of a small team"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/","name":"Ideas","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/#organization","name":"WeWork","url":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2019\/04\/welogo_black_55x55.jpg?fit=55%2C55","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2019\/04\/welogo_black_55x55.jpg?fit=55%2C55","width":55,"height":55,"caption":"WeWork"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/#\/schema\/person\/2e1df2e6016e451358f57f2f3441a693","name":"Alex Higgins","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e0cd1f104a9486581359881e92fadab4b2c00b92eb34154ebea57cf9ab8918d7?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e0cd1f104a9486581359881e92fadab4b2c00b92eb34154ebea57cf9ab8918d7?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Alex Higgins"},"url":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/author\/alex-higgins"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2014\/04\/20140310-SoMa-111.jpg?fit=1280%2C853","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6328","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1126"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6328"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6328\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":53115,"href":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6328\/revisions\/53115"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6363"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6328"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6328"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6328"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}