All right. Today we’re going to talk about three questions that you should ask before you decide to outsource. Now, I’ve spoken before about why to outsource, but today I’ll talk about what to do once you’ve decided to outsource. Because, you can’t just hire anyone, right? That’s a little risky. So, three things to ask before you say yes.
The number one thing to do before you outsource is, get referrals. Even better, if you know another business owner or somebody else who can give you a great recommendation, that’s even better. But if you’re finding someone on your own, make sure you ask for referrals because the reality is, if this person’s really new or they don’t have any good referrals to give you, you probably don’t want to work with them. I mean, if they’re new, maybe, but if they don’t have anyone that they can send you to tell you how great they are and how good their service is you probably don’t want to work with them.
The second thing to do before you outsource is, check their digital footprint. What does that mean? Well, we live in an online world. You can Google anyone, so go in there, type in their name, go into Google, check out their social media and just get a little background. And sometimes you might even find if somebody’s got some complaints against them or if people had bad experiences. If you’re trying to hire someone, like a CPA like myself, you can actually go and search up our licenses and see if there are any problems or if we’ve ever gotten into trouble before. I haven’t gotten to trouble, don’t worry if you search me up. But it’s a good thing to go out and do your little cyber-stalking research and see what other people have to say.
And the third thing to do before you outsource is, ask for an introductory meeting. I personally always offer a free initial consultation. I don’t want to take on any old client and you probably don’t want to hire any old outsourcer, so make sure it’s a good fit, it’s a good personality, that you like the way that they work. Personally, with me, a lot of times I have clients or potential clients come and they say they want someone who’s a little bit more tech-savvy, right? When you work with me, I talk to you about my technology, how I operate, things like that. And if you say, “Oh, I really want to come to your office and sit there while you type in tax forms,” I am not the outsourcer for you. It’s good to just get to know that person. It doesn’t take a long time. You’ll know pretty quick, whether or not that it’s someone you think you would have a good working relationship with or not.
Just to recap, my three things before you hire an outsourcer, get a referral, check their digital footprint and ask for an introductory meeting. Thank you so much. And we will see you next time.
