Outsourcing work allows business owners to find someone to perform a task better and more quickly than they can without the expense of hiring an employee and giving them benefits. For example, a business owner would be foolish to design their logo if they had no graphic design experience. It’s not worth buying the right software and the time needed to learn the principles of good logo design when a company could outsource the task to someone who designs logos for a living. Nike outsourced their logo design and it became an iconic symbol which perfectly depicts the brand.

One important task, which a business cannot outsource, is branding and positioning. No one can create a logo or develop content without knowing the brand’s personality and position in the market. Companies should outsource operational tasks, not tasks which involve strategy.

If a business owner isn’t an expert in something which mitigates their risk, such as cybersecurity, they should outsource the task. It is too big of a risk to leave cybersecurity to someone who isn’t qualified.

Outsourcing can take many forms, from hiring a local accounting or janitorial firm to using a freelancer for a one-off task. To make outsourcing overseas work, communication is vital. Business owners should know upfront if communications are via email, Skype, or telephone calls. For in-person communications, business owners should verify the hours outsourced overseas workers should be available because of the time difference.

Security is always a consideration when outsourcing work. A freelancer will need access to logins and passwords for a website API integration; these should be changed immediately after the task is finished. When dealing with freelancers, business owners should always have a contract which specifies who owns the intellectual property rights, for how long and attribution. Without a contract, a freelancer could write an article and sell it to multiple businesses which want to buy content. The article would become duplicate content and worthless to anyone but the first business publishing the content.

The old adage, you get what you pay for, is true when outsourcing. Some workers will work for insanely low fees. However, the quality of their work is rarely up to par. Read reviews and, if appropriate, ask to see samples of previous work.