Even the most hands-on of bosses sometimes find themselves having to outsource tasks in order to keep up with the daily demands of running a business. Once little talked about, outsourcing has become a buzzword and a tool to keep yourself and your employees from getting too overloaded. When you outsource some of your tasks, you not only save yourself time and stress but could even be helping to cut costs for the company budget in the process. The trick is to figure out what you can successfully outsource, and which items might be best performed by in-house employees instead. Not sure how to sort out your tasks? Here are some commonly outsourced aspects that might prove helpful to your small business.

Customer Service and Support

Perhaps one of the most common areas to outsource today is customer service and other customer support functions. Rather than hiring employees to pick up phone calls at the office full time, you can contract with an outside support company, or a freelancer, to perform these functions at a distance, and usually at partial cost.

Certain Receptionist Tasks

While it might still be beneficial in some ways to employ a full-time receptionist at the company offices to greet visitors and direct business partners to their meetings, for some smaller tasks usually associated with receptionists, you may be able to successfully find an external replacement. Some receptionist tasks actually lend themselves rather well to outsourcing thanks to advances in technology. For example, while it used to be that you needed an in-person employee to answer the phones or schedule important appointments, today, these tasks can be completed by virtual assistants or even by a new automated phone system.

Marketing and Web Design

Your company’s marketing, ads and web design are all critical to your success, since they’re the first place your potential customers usually come into contact with you. However, unless you have a professional graphic designer employed at the company full-time, it may be better both for outcome and for the bottom line to outsource your design needs. In many cases, you can pay a freelancer per project as needed, and you may be able to cut back on your total marketing budget.

The modern small business has a seemingly endless list of pricey to-do items that, even worse, can sometimes end up causing the employees or owner stress. Fortunately, selective outsourcing can help your business take care of some of those tasks for you, freeing up your time and energy and potentially even saving the company a little cash, too.