The first question is this:  Why Do I Need to Outsource Anything?

 

Now, that’s a good question.  After all, you’re probably an entrepreneur and, as such, you’re a successful individual who can handle many different aspects of the company.  You came up with the initial concept of your company, right?  And you built it from the ground up, I’ll bet.  You’re also the best salesperson for the company, too – sure, you finally had to hire a salesperson, but you may feel that no one is as good at selling at the owner (and you may be right).

 

But, at some point, you have found (or, trust me, you will find) that you don’t have your finger on everything in the company.  The first time you’ll see this is when your employees cannot create or manufacture the product or provide the service that you wish they could.  It’s just not the way you would do it.  You may very well step in . . . you know, to demonstrate how it should be done.

 

And, later, you’ll look at the financial results and wonder why you don’t have the results you thought you had.  This will often come when your outside CPA prepares the tax return.  And sooner or later you will say to yourself, “Why didn’t I know this sooner?” or “Wasn’t there anything I could have done to improve my results?”  That Eureka! moment.

 

If this sounds like you, it’s time to step back and understand that, yes, you could have known your results sooner, and you could have done something to improve those results.

 

But unless your company is the real exception, you simply don’t have the expertise within your company to help you help you get that information.

 

Your bookkeeper or controller has enough to do just to pay the bills and send out your invoices, to collect the receivables, get the employees paid . . . and just simply doesn’t have the time to prepare monthly financial statements.

 

But your controller may also not be trained or equipped to prepare, understand, and analyze financial statements, either.  That’s where a CFO comes in to play.

 

Regardless of the size of your company, you need a CFO.  The important thing to understand is that you most likely do NOT need a full-time CFO.  But what you do need is someone who has the knowledge and real-life experience from working in a number of companies over a number of years, who can bring all of that to bear in looking at your company.

 

And, by the way, let me debunk a popular misconception.  Many owners want to know if the person they hire has worked in the past in their industry.  While you may find someone who has, don’t be too narrow-focused.  While most companies think that they are unique, there is a real benefit to having someone with experience from other industries, for they are the ones who will ask the “stupid” questions because they haven’t seen or experienced the specific issue you have.  But the experience of one knowing how other companies have addressed similar issues is often far more important, and that person can bring that expertise to bear in your company.

 

In the next eNewsletter, I’ll talk in more detail about how you can benefit from bringing outsiders to help you address your issues.  That can be an outside sales manager or IT professional or senior financial executive . . . a CFO that brings expertise to the table on an as-needed, part-time basis. 

 

You just may discover that outsourcing some of the senior executive positions in your company is the best decision you could make.

 

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