A friend asked me last week for tips on creating her own Web site for a business she was starting. Without blinking, I told her to hire someone.

My thinking on this is simple: As new business owners, our main focus should always be to drum up new business. Diverting attention from that task is a risk to the long-run success of our ventures.

I look at it a lot like IT professionals for large enterprises do. Think about what your core competencies are – in her case, it was starting a new line of medical products. Then, think of what makes sense to focus on in terms of supporting the direct success of that business. Anything else, you should outsource.

For her, learning how to build and maintain a Web site, while interesting and fun, would have been incredibly time-consuming. This is a woman who was trying to hold down her current job, raise a family and start a new business that she hoped would allow her to quit her day job. Add to that equation taking courses on Web design and I see a train off the tracks before it leaves the station.

Her excitement about learning something new would be better shifted to the ins and outs of running a home-based business. Knowing how to balance the books and do basic accounting is more important to the core success of her business. However, that, too, as I’ve mentioned in previous articles, can eventually be outsourced as the bigger the task grows, the less it is a core competency.

She should study the manufacturing process for the line of medical products she wants to create and spend time with people who have created similar ventures from the ground up. She might also want to talk to investors and seek help on a business plan.

I told her that there are professionals who excel at Web site design and can do a bang-up job in no time at all. They can lead her through the necessary elements and help her track site usage and gauge the effectiveness of her corporate message.

There are so many parts of a home-based or small business that can be outsourced but the tendency is to glance over the option. We want to be all things to all people: letterhead designers, accountants, office supply managers,  you name it. We also are thrifty with our dollars – sometimes to our detriment. Even some elements of your computer upkeep – such as the initial set-up or a half-year tune-up – might benefit from outside expertise.