It can take a lot of work — and a lot of money — to run a small business. There are about 26.5 million businesses in the U.S., and not surprisingly, there are a wide range of approaches to running a business. Some companies are better than others at finding long term solutions to their problems.

One key part of having a successful small business is outsourcing. To many, this may seem like the antithesis to the premise of owning a small business; why outsource when you can do it yourself, and save money that way? The reality is, though, that outsourcing simply makes sense when you are making use of limited resources. In the same way you wouldn?t try and build each desk stapler at hand, it often doesn’t make sense to take on complicated work you have no experience doing. Some people, though, don?t see it as a case of “should I or should I not ‘build a stapler’?” Instead seeing it in a very short-term lens of, will I or will I not save money?

So: how can you start outsourcing a few of the “staplers” in your small business? Here are some suggestions.

1. Payroll

Did you know that the average audited small business ends up paying over $600 to the IRS in fees due to payroll errors? Payroll is complex — you need to properly account for your employees? time, and their taxes, or be subsequently fined. By outsourcing your payroll you?ll not only ensure accuracy, but you?ll also free up a lot of your time.

2. Federal Proposal Writing

If you?re in a company that needs to create government contract proposals — whether it?s for website creation or construction — you’re going to want to do it right the first time. Otherwise, you could end up dropping the ball on an incredibly lucrative contract. Many companies specializing in this produce proposal pricing software and RFP software that businesses like yours can use in order to follow proper procedure. This way you’ll make sure all the info is in line for your requirements matrix, cost volume, executive summary, etc. Federal proposal writing doesn’t have to be complicated!

3. Search Engine Optimization

A lot of people like to believe they can handle their online marketing by themselves. Considering how important it is to modern advertising, though — billions of search inquiries are run through Google every month — this isn?t something you want to delegate to the “I?ll do it next week, when I have more time” bin. Instead, hire an experienced SEO company to do everything from content creation to PPC ads for your company.

Whether it’s SEO, federal proposal writing, or payroll, sometimes outsourcing just makes sense when it comes to solutions for your company.