Annual report tasks can be outsourced for many benefits

While there are a few tasks you can outsource when preparing an annual report, one I love is checking edits.

Early drafts may contain a lot of edits!

That is, when the designer returns a draft to me, someone else goes through and checks the designer has implemented all the changes I requested.

Why check everything? Well, I trust the designers I use, no question about that. However, they are human so may have missed something or misunderstood what I wanted. Or they could have made a simple error (eg made $654 into $664 instead of $646).

Benefits of outsourcing edit checks

Having someone else check those details has two major advantages in my eyes:

1. I don’t have to do it! Ok that is really a third reason as my original point was that it saves me time to not have to do it, but it’s not something I enjoy either
2. by not reviewing those small details as often, I am better positioned to actually read the report and thus spot issues with the flow or tone of information. If you see the same words and images over and over, it gets much harder to see errors – like putting space between writing and proof reading

I guess you don’t need to find a highly skilled person to outsource checking edits, either – as long as they are detailed orientated, it isn’t a hard task. I am lucky to have found someone I trust for many tasks as he not only checks edits have been made but will suggest other potential improvements he notices, too.

Outsourcing frees up time

To me, this is the perfect example of outsourcing and leaving me more time to use my writing skills.

What is the perfect task for you to outsource?

Do you outsource that task?