People sometimes wonder when they hear the term “outsourcing.” Here is a brief definition of outsourcing and some ideas on how it can benefit the business entrepreneur, especially one who is making a go on the Internet. In actually, outsourcing has been going on for years. The essence of outsourcing is simply engaging the services of an individual or organization outside your full time staff to handle certain aspects of your business plan. These aspects may be public relations, marketing, clerical and administrative functions, or IT management. In fact, with today’s virtual environment, there is really no part of the business that could not be outsourced effectively. Of course, the big question is whether or not there are any benefits to outsourcing, especially for persons who are building their business on the Internet. Actually, there are several good reasons to outsource certain functions. Here are some examples.

Often, an Internet business is set up with a shoestring budget and one person doing all the work. As the business grows, it is easy to get caught up in dealing with general office functions, such as answering emails, handling correspondence and maintaining client lists. By outsourcing your clerical support needs, you can spend more time focusing on the expansion of your business, not the day to day details of running it. Second, promoting your online presence is a full time job all by itself. You can hardly manage that and still be involved in making the big decisions that impact the overall operations of your company.