{"id":10113,"date":"2025-11-28T10:08:22","date_gmt":"2025-11-28T10:08:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.oreateai.com\/blog\/outsourcing-examples\/"},"modified":"2025-11-28T10:08:22","modified_gmt":"2025-11-28T10:08:22","slug":"outsourcing-examples","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.oreateai.com\/blog\/outsourcing-examples\/","title":{"rendered":"Outsourcing Examples"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Let me tell you \u2013 outsourcing used to make me cringe. The idea of handing off work to strangers felt like admitting defeat when I started my handmade candle business back in 2019. I was that person burning midnight oil (pun intended) juggling Etsy listings, Instagram reels, and customer emails while my kids asked if I\u2019d morphed into our kitchen table. But after my third \u201cmommy, why does your laptop glow in the dark?\u201d comment? I cracked faster than a soy wax pillar.<\/p>\n<p><strong>My first outsourcing disaster?<\/strong> Hiring a $5\/hr \u201csocial media guru\u201d from a freelance site who posted a TikTok of my lavender candles\u2026 with a Nickelback soundtrack. My DMs blew up with \u201cIs this 2003?\u201d jokes. (Lesson learned: Cheap \u2260 cheerful.) But then I tried outsourcing email management to a VA in Texas through Upwork \u2013 she\u2019d previously worked at a Trader Joe\u2019s and had that perfect blend of hustle and \u201cma\u2019am, your coupon code\u2019s expired\u201d tact. Game. Changer.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Here\u2019s what actually worked from my 3-year trial-and-error spree:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Bookkeeping:<\/strong> Hired a CPA firm in Omaha via a Facebook moms\u2019 group rec. Saved me $2K in deductible misses last tax season. They speak QuickBooks <em>and<\/em> \u201cI forgot to track PayPal fees\u201d fluently.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Product photography:<\/strong> Found a San Diego college student on Fiverr. Paid her in Venmo and free candles. Now my website looks like a West Elm catalog (without the West Elm prices).<\/li>\n<li><strong>Inventory hell:<\/strong> Partnered with a 3PL warehouse in Kentucky. Cheaper than storing boxes in my garage next to the snowblower. Added bonus: No more \u201cMom, why does my bike helmet smell like lemongrass?\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>The real turning point?<\/strong> When I outsourced website redesign to a boutique agency. Yes, it cost more than my first car (a \u201898 Corolla, if you\u2019re curious). But watching them implement SEO magic while I drank iced coffee at my kid\u2019s soccer practice? Priceless. Now when someone Googles \u201cnon-toxic birthday candles,\u201d my site appears before Etsy listings. Take <em>that<\/em>, algorithm.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What I wish I\u2019d known sooner:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Start with ONE repetitive task that makes you groan (for me: answering \u201cWhat\u2019s your return policy?\u201d 47x\/day)<\/li>\n<li>Test small \u2013 try a Bark.com freelancer before committing to agencies<\/li>\n<li>Time zones matter. My 2am genius idea won\u2019t vibe with someone\u2019s 9am school run in Manila<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Funny thing? The more I outsourced, the more creative energy I had. Last month, I finally launched those coffee-scented candles I\u2019d been dreaming up since 2020 \u2013 while my VA handled Black Friday prep. Turns out letting go of control doesn\u2019t mean losing your vision. It means trading nickelback-tier help for people who make your business <em>sing<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>Still nervous? Try this: Next time you\u2019re drowning in Shopify alerts during dinner, Google \u201c[your task] + freelance [your state]\u201d. Someone\u2019s out there craving exactly that gig. Might even be another burnt-out parent trading naptime for side hustle magic. Trust me \u2013 your future self sipping Dunkin\u2019 while your team crunches numbers? She\u2019ll thank you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Let me tell you \u2013 outsourcing used to make me cringe. The idea of handing off work to strangers felt like admitting defeat when I started my handmade candle business back in 2019. I was that person burning midnight oil (pun intended) juggling Etsy listings, Instagram reels, and customer emails while my kids asked if&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1749,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10113","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-content"],"modified_by":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oreateai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10113","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oreateai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oreateai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oreateai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oreateai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10113"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.oreateai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10113\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oreateai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1749"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oreateai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10113"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oreateai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10113"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oreateai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10113"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}