Ask a Business Expert

A: While your predicament is frustrating, it's also a good sign — it means that your business is successful and growing. Congratulations! You’re facing a challenge that many successful small business owners have also faced: how to handle administrative tasks in a way that doesn't end up destroying the very business you've worked so hard to build. You didn't get your business to where it is today by being an administrator; you got it there by satisfying your customers. To cut back on the personal interaction that is one of the advantages a small business has over large corporate competitors is a dangerous mistake.

Fortunately, there is a middle ground between doing it all yourself and having full–time staff on your company payroll: you can outsource such technical skills to others, sharing the cost of their time with their other loyal customers rather than having them work only for you.

You may wonder how you’ll know if the professionals you choose will do a good job. One of the most difficult points of transition for the successful entrepreneur who has been "doing it all" is to admit that even if someone else doesn't know everything that s/he knows about the business, a trained professional can still know enough to do the job satisfactorily. You will have taken a big step toward guaranteeing your company's future success when you grasp and act on the fact that you don't personally need to do every task your company needs doing!

The administrative and bookkeeping components of your business cannot be left to just anyone who puts an ad in the paper. I highly recommend checking with others in your field of business, getting references at your local Chamber of Commerce, and/or going with national companies whose reputation you can trust and who you know will not disappear overnight. Compare costs, compare size of staff available to you at crunch times, and check with the Better Business Bureau.

If you take these steps, I can assure you that your bottom line in the long run will be greater, and your reputation with your customers more solid, than if you spend your company's most valuable resource, you, on tasks that are not your specialty!