b2b Vault Podcast
Stop Letting Back-Office Chores Steal Your Time | Adam Spector of Chore on B2B Vault
Adam Spector, founder and CEO of Chore, joins B2B Vault to discuss why founders should outsource back-office tasks, reduce admin chaos, use AI wisely, and focus on business growth.
Presented by Allen Kopelman, CEO — Nationwide Payment Systems-Host of B2B Vault: The Biz2Biz Podcast
Adam Spector of Chore.ai
AI OVERVIEW
Founders should not spend their best hours fixing payroll issues, chasing state notices, cleaning up bookkeeping, or managing back-office chaos.
On this episode of B2B Vault, Adam Spector, founder and CEO of Chore, explains why entrepreneurs need to focus on what they do best — and delegate the chores that slow growth down.
We talked about outsourcing, HR, finance, compliance, AI, vendor accountability, and the future of leaner companies built with smarter systems.
Listen to the episode and ask yourself:
What work are you still doing that someone else should own?
Running a business sounds exciting from the outside. Founder burnout ends here: Outsourcing secrets from Adam Spector of Chore.ai
You build a product.
You find customers.
You grow the company.
You make money.
But every business owner knows the truth: the real work often gets buried under payroll issues, HR questions, tax notices, bookkeeping problems, compliance paperwork, state registrations, accounts payable, accounts receivable, employee onboarding, unemployment claims, and a thousand other “little” tasks that somehow eat up the whole week.
On this episode of B2B Vault: The Biz to Biz Podcast, host Allen Kopelman welcomed Adam Spector, founder and CEO of Chore, to talk about a problem almost every entrepreneur faces:
Business owners are spending too much time doing work they should not be doing.
Chore helps companies outsource the back-office work that distracts founders from sales, product, customer service, and growth. That includes HR, finance, compliance, bookkeeping, taxes, accounts payable, accounts receivable, and even equity management for startups.
Adam’s message was direct:
Founders should focus on what they do best — and delegate the rest.
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The Hidden Time Tax on Business Owners
Every founder starts with a core skill.
Maybe they are great at building software.
Maybe they are an amazing chef.
Maybe they make the best pies in town.
Maybe they know how to sell, design, consult, repair, coach, manage, or manufacture something better than anyone else.
That skill is the reason the business exists.
But then the business starts growing.
Now the founder has to hire employees. Run payroll. Register with the state. Respond to tax letters. Dealing with unemployment claims. Track expenses. Send invoices. Reconcile the books. Handle HR paperwork. Build policies. Onboard staff. Manage vendors. File reports. Answer government notices.
Suddenly, the founder is not spending the day on the thing that made the business successful.
They are spending five to ten hours a week — sometimes more — doing back-office work.
Adam called this a time tax on the business.
And for small businesses, that tax can be brutal.
A founder who should be selling, building, meeting customers, improving the product, or leading the team ends up stuck on hold with a government office trying to fix a payroll or tax issue.
That is not just frustrating.
It is expensive.
Why Great Operators Outsource the Work That Slows Them Down
One of the biggest themes from the conversation was simple:
You do not need to hire full-time employees for every business function.
In fact, Adam argued that many companies should try to build with fewer full-time employees and more specialized vendors, contractors, and outsourced experts.
That does not mean people are not important.
It means business owners need to be realistic about what should live inside the company and what should be handled by outside specialists.
For example, a restaurant may need servers, bartenders, cooks, and managers in-house.
But does the owner need a full-time person internally just to deal with HR paperwork, unemployment claims, payroll issues, compliance questions, and state notices?
Maybe not.
A startup may need great engineers and product people.
But do four technical founders need to hire and manage a salesperson before they even know how to build a sales process?
Maybe they would be better off testing an agency or outside sales resource first.
Adam’s point was not that outsourcing is always cheaper by the hour.
His point was that outsourced experts often deliver better outcomes because they already have the systems, experience, people, and process in place.
A vendor is paid to deliver a result.
A full-time employee requires recruiting, hiring, training, managing, backup coverage, HR support, benefits, time off, performance management, and replacement if they leave.
When a company hires a good vendor, the business owner can say:
“Here is the outcome I need. Get it done.”
That is a very different relationship than trying to build every department from scratch.
The Pie Shop Problem: Why Founders Get Pulled Away From Their Superpower
One of the best examples from the episode was the pie maker.
Imagine someone makes the best pies in the world.
They start selling pies. Customers love them. Demand grows. They open a storefront. Then they hire people. Then they need payroll. Then they need HR. Then they need compliance. Then they need bookkeeping. Then they need tax filings. Then they need to respond to state notices. Then they need to manage employees, train staff, watch for theft, handle scheduling, and market the business.
Before long, the world’s best pie maker is barely making pies.
They are managing back-office chores.
That is where many small businesses break down.
The owner’s talent creates the opportunity, but the operational burden crushes the momentum.
The business does not always fail because the product is bad.
It fails because the founder is overwhelmed by everything around the product.
Payroll, HR, Compliance, and State Notices Are Not Small Problems
Allen and Adam also discussed how frustrating government and compliance issues can be for business owners.
A letter from the state can create a major distraction.
Payroll problems can stop the entire day.
Unemployment claims can turn into paperwork battles.
HR issues can become bigger problems if the company does not have the right onboarding, handbooks, policies, and documentation in place.
These are not glamorous parts of business.
But they matter.
When they are handled poorly, they can cost the company money, create risk, and distract leadership from revenue-generating work.
For a founder, the key question is:
Is this the best use of my time?
Most of the time, the answer is no.
That does not mean the work is unimportant.
It means the work should be handled by someone who does it every day.
The Future Business Model: Fewer Employees, Better Vendors, More Outcomes
Adam made a strong prediction during the episode:
The future of business will include more companies built with fewer full-time employees and more outsourced specialists.
That is already happening.
Business owners outsource their websites.
They outsource payroll.
They outsource bookkeeping.
They outsource IT.
They outsource marketing.
They outsource legal.
They outsource HR.
They outsource payment processing support.
They outsource sales development.
They outsource content production.
They outsource customer service tools.
The smartest businesses are not trying to do everything internally.
They are building a network of reliable experts who help them move faster.
The old mindset was:
“We need to hire someone for that.”
The new mindset is:
“What outcome do we need, and who is the best expert to deliver it?”
That shift matters.
It lets founders stay focused on growth instead of getting buried in internal operations.
Why Outcomes Matter More Than Activity
Another major point from the conversation was the importance of measuring results.
Allen shared a story about working with marketing companies and asking them to define measurable outcomes. Some vendors got nervous because they were used to selling activity, not results.
But business owners should not pay for vague promises.
They should know what success looks like.
That applies to marketing, sales, HR, finance, payroll, compliance, technology, and almost every vendor relationship.
The question should always be:
What outcome are you going to deliver?
Not:
“How many hours will you work?”
“How many meetings will we have?”
“How many reports will you send?”
Those things may matter, but they are not the main point.
The real question is whether the vendor helps the business move forward.
Good vendors make the owner’s life easier, reduce risk, save time, improve efficiency, and help the company grow.
AI Is Changing the Cost and Speed of Business Operations
Allen and Adam also discussed the growing impact of AI on business.
AI is changing how companies create content, build tools, automate workflows, manage data, test ideas, and improve productivity.
Allen shared how AI tools can now help generate code for things like website calculators, saving hours of development time.
Adam’s view was that business owners should start with the assumption that AI can probably help with many tasks. That does not mean AI should replace every vendor or employee. It means leaders should be asking smarter questions:
Can AI help us do this faster?
Can AI reduce the cost?
Can AI improve the workflow?
Can AI help our team get more done?
Can AI help our vendors deliver better results?
At the same time, Adam warned against trying to build and maintain everything yourself.
Just because AI can help you build a tool does not mean you should create your own CRM, payroll system, HR platform, or back-office operation from scratch.
Sometimes the best decision is still to use an existing expert or vendor.
AI does not eliminate the need for specialists.
It raises the bar for what specialists should be able to deliver.
The Company of One Is Becoming More Realistic
One of the most interesting ideas from the episode was the rise of the company of one.
With the right vendors, automation, AI tools, payment systems, contractors, and outsourced support, a single founder can now do things that once required a much larger team.
That does not mean every company should stay small forever.
But it does mean entrepreneurs have more leverage than ever.
A founder can build a business with a leaner team, fewer fixed costs, and more flexible support.
The challenge is knowing what to keep close and what to outsource.
Core product? Keep it close.
Customer relationships? Keep them close.
Your unique expertise? Keep it close.
Back-office tasks that drain your time? Consider outsourcing.
Specialized admin work? Consider outsourcing.
Work that requires deep compliance knowledge? Consider outsourcing.
Tasks that do not directly create growth? Consider outsourcing.
The future belongs to business owners who know how to focus.
The Big Lesson for Business Owners
The biggest takeaway from Adam Spector’s conversation on B2B Vault is this:
Your time is one of your most valuable business assets.
If you are a founder, owner, or operator, your highest-value work is usually tied to growth, customers, product, strategy, relationships, and leadership.
Every hour spent chasing payroll issues, filing paperwork, fighting with state agencies, fixing bookkeeping problems, or managing back-office chaos is an hour not spent growing the business.
That does not mean those tasks can be ignored.
It means they need a better system.
For some companies, that system may be Chore.
For others, it may be a mix of payroll providers, bookkeepers, HR consultants, compliance experts, finance teams, automation tools, and trusted vendors.
The point is not to do everything yourself.
The point is to build a business that can run without the founder being trapped in the weeds all day.
Final Thought: Focus on the Work Only You Can Do
Every business owner should ask:
What am I great at?
What actually grows the company?
What work requires my judgment?
What work drains time but does not need me?
What should be outsourced to someone better equipped to handle it?
The more clearly a founder answers those questions, the stronger the business becomes.
Because the goal is not to be busy.
The goal is to build something that works.
As Adam put it throughout the conversation, founders should stop spending their best hours on back-office chores and get back to building great products, serving customers, and growing the business.
That is how entrepreneurs create momentum.
That is how businesses scale.
And that is how owners get their time back.
About B2B Vault
B2B Vault: The Biz to Biz Podcast is hosted by Allen Kopelman and powered by Nationwide Payment Systems. The show features conversations with entrepreneurs, business leaders, fintech experts, technology founders, and service providers who help business owners grow, adapt, and compete in a changing marketplace.
Nationwide Payment Systems helps businesses with payment processing, merchant services, NPSONE Smart Invoicing, payment links, gateway solutions, e-commerce payments, QuickBooks-connected invoicing, and customized payment technology.
To learn more, visit NationwidePaymentSystems.com.
About Adam Spector and Chore
Adam Spector is the founder and CEO of Chore, a company that helps businesses outsource back-office operations including HR, compliance, finance, bookkeeping, taxes, accounts payable, accounts receivable, and other administrative work that can slow founders down.
To learn more, visit HireChore.com or connect with Adam Spector on LinkedIn.
