{this post is running in conjunction with my AUGUST inthebiz! newsletter which you can sign up for here}

As a social media strategist working with a variety of clients, the key to growing a successful business begins with integrating a company-wide social media strategy. Often times business owners are hesitant about using social media since they don’t quite understand the link between social media and the path to profitability. If you or someone you know isn’t investing the time, energy, and budget for social media within a business, you should read this article: bit.ly/MAPgPC.

The best advice I can give to any business owner is to be open-minded: find ways to integrate social media into daily business. Need help getting started with a powerful social media strategy? Book a free consultation with me: http://bit.ly/jV9EYj and ask about my DIY guides.

As a follow up to my previous idea on bartering and skill swapping, I took up a class at Brooklyn Brainery called Outsourcing Your Problems, and it couldn’t have come at a better time.

I just transitioned into a new set of entrepreneurial projects both for myself and clients, and boy am I swamped already. On my plate right now is the following (spoiler alert: I’m a busy woman!):

• Entrepreneurship Branding @ WECREATENYC
• Co-Founder & Community Bed-Stuy Crawl
• Host @ likemindbk
• Speaker Coordinator @ DigitalUndivided
• Assistant @ With Love, From Brooklyn
• Assistant @ Gumbs + Partners

I basically have booked up my entire seven days of the week with the bulk of my time being on email, at meetings, and strategizing campaigns. It’s been a bit overwhelming though highly enjoyable.

With the chaos going on as a one-woman machine, I just cannot do it all. I’m passing on the torch to someone who can conquer small tasks so that I can focus on bigger picture stuff.

Enter: outsourcing

Taking the teacher’s advice, I made a list of things I do that take up way too much time and headache on a regular basis. I also am experimenting with time-tracking through RescueTime to see how I can free up my days. I’m scared to see their results.

So here’s what I am going to outsource:

Business 

• update inthebiz! Tumblr (theme, content, Disqus & ShareThis functionality)
• export and move inthebiz! Tumblr blog content to WordPress or Squarespace (which do you think is better and why?)
• email and calendar management (organize, prioritize, and upkeep my folders/labels and daily schedule)
• create automated bookkeeping and accounting system (invoice clients on time, track income and expenses)
• organize address book (extract contacts to prioritze for outreach purposes, import business card contacts)
• newsletter/mailing list campaign (optimize monthly content and marketing strategy)
• create whitepapers to sell (use my bucket of resources and social media pro-tips for a digital package)

Personal

• clean up office supplies to donate, sell, or trash
• research the perfect, budget-friendly bike for me to buy
• optimize interior/apartment space for better organization and usefulness 

I’ll provide guidelines, rules, negotiated rates, schedules, and an agreement to get things going. Like I said before, I can provide:

• PR assistance
• free co-working space
• social media consulting
• tech/web tools

Interested in being my outsourcer? Email me: alishamiranda[.]biz[@]gmail[.]com with your 1) name and contact info 2) what project you can do 3) your background and 4) availability. 

I wanted to quickly share some insight from last week’s post on TechnologyReview.com which presumes today’s online presence is a bigger factor in securing a job than that dry, boring resume you send out. I completely agree that having a proactive strategy to showing who you are, what you do (or want to do), and your values in a creative way using the web is far more interesting and successful than cleaning up a dated resume. Personally, I’ve landed more gigs through my Flavors.me webpage and Mashable mentions than through a resume email attachment. So can you if you take advantage of opportunities through the social web. 

Here’s what TR had to say:

“The résumé is vanishing as a way of representing who you are,” says Launa Forehand of Jobspring. Jobseekers…are proving their value through participation in online communities, and employers are increasingly using those venues to find and vet candidates.

One of the most important qualities as a jobseeker today is having a genuine interest in participating in relevant conversations. Find topics to talk about your passions, and connect with like-minded people. Those communities will do wonders for contact leads and resource exchanges. 

“Being willing to share things you don’t know and seeking help in solving problems you’re working on are enormously powerful ways to attract people who share your interests.”

Ask, ask, ask. Never be afraid to speak up if you don’t know where to start or are stuck on getting to that next level. Just remember to be nice, return the favor, and know your boundaries.

Earlier generations might view such naked exposure as a double-edged sword. After all, answering a question online can reveal ignorance as well as expertise. In the emerging online ecosystem, though, it may be more important to contribute to the community than to demonstrate individual mastery.

I often work with both young professionals and older-generation businessmen and women who need a boost of courage when it comes to making a digital footprint. The best advice I can offer is experiment. In the beginning, the online world is very much a trial and error system. One way to gain confidence is to map out a SWOT analysis: your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Discover a community of thought leaders, peers/friends/colleagues, and mentors around those questions to develop a support system. The more you contribute, the better your reputation.

“Community isn’t just about relationships—it’s about becoming smarter and better at what you do,” says Jonathan Reed, an enterprise staffing consultant.

As a community manager to over a dozen sites in recent years, I can tell you that the most successful communities have emerged through cultivating relationships. Providing intelligent conversation starters and encouraging feedback is one of the best ways to attract audiences, whether you’re a company or a single professional. Don’t abuse those relationships.

MORE: Your Reputation is Your Resume.

For my tips on careers and business, read my contributing articles here.