When I first started my online business I was creating websites for people. This began out of the passion of enjoying creating an online presence and I turned it into producing an income. Something that I quickly worked out was that I could produce satisfactory websites – websites that were kind of “okay”, but weren’t fantastic. When I first started, I was doing all the different aspects myself. I was creating the concept, working with the client, doing all the graphic designs, programming, and all the implementation.

My real strength was in the concept stage and in project management. My weaknesses were actually the other aspects such as the design and the programming. There is an expression “he is a jack of all trades and a master of none”. Sometimes we focus on the first half of that saying and we actually try to become a jack of all trades. We know a little about a lot, but not enough about one thing.

I am sure that there are applications and careers in the world where being a jack of all trades is a beneficial trait, so I am certainly not saying that it is bad. One of the best aspects about outsourcing, and one of the resources that you can equip your business with is that you can be a jack of all trades and a master of all.

When I started outsourcing I begin by staffing my weaknesses. I went for the skills that I was lacking in and I employed people who were a master in that area. In a sense my business became a master of all the things that we do – our concepts and project management were excellent, designs were first class, and our coding was completely compliant and efficient. That is the resource that outsourcing can give to you as an individual or as a business.

Recently I was discussing with a colleague their struggle to find descent or appropriate staff for their business. They were recruiting team members from the Philippines and he was having an incredibly difficult time trying to find that perfect person. After hearing his complaints and frustration I asked him to send me the job description that he was trying to fill. When I looked at the description I discovered he was trying to find a jack of all trades. He wanted someone who could write articles, could do search engine optimization, could design sites, then code that site and could also do customer service. He was looking for five employees in one. The staff he kept trialling were falling short in expectation as each of those key characteristics was not to the standard he required.

As the rule applies to us, as managers, the same rule applies to the people that you are recruiting. If you try to employ a jack of all trades you will find that they can do a lot of tasks for you decently, but they can not do them with excellence.

The advice I gave to him – divide up your tasks amongst many people, and here are some of the key points I gave him:

 

Recruit multiple people

Find the best of each aspect that you are looking for and employ them to do that job solely. It’s common sense that when somebody does a job over and over again, or they focus on one key area like designing, they will improve each and every time as they gain more experience.

 

Vary the working condition

Instead of employing two full time staff, employ four part time staff each with different skills. For the first 2 years I didn’t employ anyone in a full time basis. They were all part time or contracted paid per hour. That is how I begun my outsourcing business until I got to the point when not only could I afford to pay a full time team, but I also have enough work to keep them all occupied.

 

Employee sharing

There are businesses that can do this on your behalf – they take the tasks that you have and assign them to their full time employees so you still get the benefits of outsourcing but only as you need. If you only need five hours one week, and ten hours the next, these businesses can cater for you. Alternatively you may have a colleague who you can job share with. Two or three people get together and employ a group of staff and share the tasks between those workers. They get the benefit of people who are highly trained in one discipline, but getting the full resource of all the tasks that they need to be done.