How an entrepreneur’s path begins and why you need outsourcing from the very start
It has been a while since I started writing this series under the title “Outsourcing for dummies”. For over 30 years, I have been working for Unistaff, the company providing business process outsourcing services. Over this time, I have gathered many observations and insights I would like to share - on how to use outsourcing properly, effectively to foster your company’s growth.
The birth of a business
Let us start from the very beginning, from business formation stage.
One day an idea just leaps to your mind: “What if I start my own business?
You identify a market need and realize how to meet it. This is the moment your company is born - first in your mind, then in legal reality. You make your first strategic decision: to register a legal entity.
From that point on, every move you make must be intentional. Right from the start, you’ll face a number of key decisions:
- how to manage relations with the tax authorities;
- where your office will be located;
- where to search for employees;
- which processes to keep in-house, and which to outsource.
These decisions might seem technical, but in fact, they are architectural. They will determine your structure’s stability when the market starts to put pressure on it.
The first choice: paddle your own canoe or delegate?
A young business is like an expedition with a backpack stuffed full of everything - accounting, marketing, HR, taxes, business cards printing and even washing mugs. That is normal. In every entrepreneur dwells MacGyver who believes one can overcome any issue with YouTube and Excel.
But one day you realize: “I’m coming up short”.
This is your first point of growth. The very moment you first ask yourself:
“What if I don’t have to do everything myself?
What if I’m not an accountant, an HR specialist or an IT guy and I don’t have to pretend to be?”
That is when outsourcing first appears, not as a buzzword, but as a practical tool for survival.