So you’ve read all the other guides on what to do to start and run your small business or home office. Are your fingers tapping nervously on the desk while you wonder how you’re going to find enough hours in the day? Like us, you want your business to be a success but you’d also like to go to bed at some point and having dinner with your family or loved ones would be an advantage as well!

A Virtual Assistant (VA) will help take the pressure off running your business by reducing some of your workload. They carry out their work from their own premises meaning you won’t need to expand on your workplace.

Find out what else they can help you with @ winweb.com

How often are you doing business admin work and you wish you had someone to do it for you? Rings a bell? Well you are not alone, we all have moments like this.

Using virtual assistants to outsource many of your business chores is one way of dealing with this dilemma, virtual assistants love the work you hate and honestly are probably better at it too.

But what can virtual assistants (VAs) actually do for your business apart from the obvious business task?

Find out @ WinWeb Business Blog.

I can not believe that I have forgotten to tell you that we launched OnlineOffice 5 last week – thank you Ashley for kicking my proverbial bu**!

So here goes, we have launched our latest version of OnlineOffice 5 last week with over 100 new features and most importantly over one hundred new business ideas. You can find those in the brand new Academy section, which is our new on-demand business development and business ideas section. With these Business Ideas we just made a start, more is to come.

We have further improved the integration of our Virtual Assistants, which we call OnlineOffice Assistants. As most of you know they a the good fairies who actually do all the work for you our clients should you choose to outsource some of your work. It is even more necessary in these times of the credit crunch.

If you are a VA and have still some space for same more work let us know, go to our website, www.winweb.com and then navigate to Partnering/Assistant. Follow the link from there if you are interested.

Since WinWeb will be 15 years old next year, we thought we start a competition on December 1st, where you can win £10,000 or $20,000 as a first prize. All you will have to do is to tell us what you would do with this money for your business. Maybe start a business? Maybe buy a new computer? Rent a bigger office, after considering the fixed cost trap of cause? You tell us, that’s it. Hopefully you will win the main or one of the many other prizes.

Anyway, I will write about all this more in the days and weeks to come.

I can not believe I forgot to ……..! What is the matter with me?! — ST.

It may be that you have some spare space in your house, out-building, or you even a whole house, you can’t or don’t want to sell or rent out, then you could generate income by setting it up as a coworking space, a coworking wiki-site explains it like this:

Coworking is cafe-like community/collaboration space for developers, writers and independents.
Or, it’s like this: start with a shared office and add cafe culture. Which is the opposite of most modern cafes.

All you need is tables, chairs, a WI-Fi setup and apparently a coffee machine and you are in business. But remember you will have people in your house every day, so make sure you are OK with that, before you start. Have a look at the website for coworking to get some more ideas, or read the blog.

It will be a great place for working, socializing, and getting ideas and help from others. ST.

NOTE: If you have any problems with setting something like this up, give our 24/7 live support a “click“, they can help you.

You may speak more languages and have market segment knowledge about a certain product or service. That is a great basis for a small business startup, two scenarios spring to mind:

Virtual Export Assistant: You may know, or can find a business which has a great product, but they don’t export yet. You could offer your services for a particular country and become their Virtual Export Assistant for that country. You use your language and local knowledge skills and open up a new market for this small business.

Virtual Import Assistant: You could source – using your language and local knowledge skills – products in other countries for retailers in your country of residence. Or you could help the foreign business to import into your country.

But remember you are working with small business and start-up business, like SOHO-, SME, SMB-, Micro-, Lifestyle-, Home-, DIY-, Hobby-, Boomer- or Personal business, like professional, contractors, freelancer, self-employed, sole-trader and virtual assistants, you need to keep the price low for them. To do that you can offer your services to ten or twenty businesses, each paying you a retainer of about $200 – 400/£100 – 200, this makes it affordable for them and low risk, while presenting them with sales opportunities. If they pay you a small commission on top, you are generating a nice little income for yourself.

For this kind of service it would be advisable to get a low cost telecom service for your calls abroad, sometimes you can get fixed monthly subscription pricing for unlimited calls – have a look around.

Other than that your setup cost should be low, if you have computer, ADSL, and telephone. Monthly cost including telephone could be as low as $90/£45.

You can work from home, have your work-life balance and do it on a shoe-string – these are the business ideas I like. ST.

NOTE: If you have any problems with setting something like this up, give our 24/7 live support a “click“, they can help you.

Again I had several questions regarding “crisis planning“, “disaster planning“, “data-security” and “data-backup“, so I will cover all of them in this post.

When I started thinking about WinWeb’s Small Business Infrastructure, we always knew we had to do something about data-security and data-backup. The truth of the matter is that most small business and start-up business, like SOHO-, SME, SMB-, Micro-, Lifestyle-, Home-, DIY-, Hobby-, Boomer- or Personal business, like professional, contractors, freelancer, self-employed, sole-trader and virtual assistants, do not have a coherent data-security and back-up strategy. To be perfectly blunt about the subject, it is not made easier by confusing technology and more to the point terminology, that even we have difficulty understanding some time. So I believe:

We should not expect business start-ups and small business in general to be accountants, bookkeepers, IT specialist, lawyers, marketing & PR gurus and so on. We should provide small business with an infrastructure in which it can concentrate on core business tasks, while at the same time enabling the business owner to stay informed of all relevant business facts like cash flow, sales, HR issues, tax position and more. This will enable him / her to make informed decisions, maybe with the help of an external advisor.

I formulated at the beginning that one of the benefits of using WinWeb’s OnlineOffice would be:

No security problems. No business interruption problem.
Your data is continuously backed up onto multiple RAID-5 data servers in multiple physically and network secure data centres – if that is not enough you can make a copy of your data anytime onto your PC or a CD. Should your computer crash or get stolen – no problem, just log on to another computer and keep working – can your competition do that?

So that takes care of the data security and back-up problem. To give you a little example, one of our clients is a web-designer for a niche market, he lives in an area which was flooded earlier in the year. His computer equipment gone, but all his data, addresses, email and work was safely stored in our OnlineOffice. He moved to his parents for a time and was back working within a few hours – not everybody was that lucky.

A burglary or fire would do the same – and can be dealt with quiet easily. This is not so easy when you have a business that manufactures goods, even when you do it from the kitchen table, you will incur “business interruption“. You will need a plan for that too – insurance may be the first step.

But loosing customers and with that revenue is not something an insurance is going to cover you for. So you need to plan ahead, ask yourself the following questions:

• Is there somewhere else I could work from temporarily? Parents, friends, short term office hire, etc.
• How long until I can get my raw-materials again? Maybe you should require your supplier to get a certain amount in stock for you, make a contract.
• Could you hire machinery until you can replace your own? Find suppliers now.
• Could my staff work from home if necessary? Online technology will help with that.
• Could I outsource some work temporarily? Have a look at virtual assistants in your area.

There are other questions you could ask yourself, just take 30 minutes, get a piece of paper and imagine your business, office, house, kitchen just burned down – trust me – the questions will come, and so will the answers. Oh, just to mention it, a disaster plan in a burned out house is of no value to anyone, keep it online or safe elsewhere.

Answer: YES, a small business needs a disaster plan, just like any other business. ST.

Disclaimer: As with any of my readers questions, I do not have all the answers and here on my blog I can only give you some ideas, since I know very little about your small business. If any of you can add anything here do so for the benefit of my reader, who asked the question and everybody else, leave a comment below – I’d be most grateful.

A virtual credit controller is someone you have outsourced your credit control work to for execution. Needless to say that credit control is one of the most important functions in any small business and start-up business, like SOHO-, SME, SMB-, Micro-, Lifestyle-, Home-, DIY-, Hobby-, Boomer- or Personal business, like professional, contractors, freelancer, self-employed, sole-trader and virtual assistants, it affects your cash-flow and keeps your small business a float.

This could be a professional company which specializes in credit control all the way to court action, this service is usually used for bad debt or difficult customers. The service can be quite pricey and you may have problems getting them to deal with only a few invoices per month.

Another option is to use a virtual assistant (VA) in your area and give him/her the list of open invoices or just copies of them and have the virtual assistant follow up on your clients. You can also use online technology to keep your files up-to-date and make the work-flow more efficient for you and your VA, saving time and money.

Important, no matter how you choose to do your credit control, is to set guidelines, it’s no good getting paid and loosing the client at the same time. Keep your virtual credit controller up-to-date with payments received, clients get upset if chased for money they already paid, and it makes you look unprofessional.

Remember, the easiest way to get new business, is to offer more and new products and services to existing clients. ST.

Disclaimer: As with any of my readers questions, I do not have all the answers and here on my blog I can only give you some ideas, since I know very little about your small business. If any of you can add anything here do so for the benefit of my reader, who asked the question and everybody else, leave a comment below – I’d be most grateful.

Ask Shama, she got a great post out to answer this question, here she sets out what you need:

“….What do you need? Characteristics wise, most clients ask for virtual assistants who are sharp, can take initiative, and who will help further the client’s business. If this sounds like you, you may find your business booming before you know it. You also need a good working computer, an internet, fax, and phone connection, and lots of folders to keep you organized. Remember to back up your files often. Careless errors in your first years in business can cost you.”

There is more, so have a look. I would add, to use online technology, with all it’s benefits for you, it also makes it much easier to become an integral part of the clients team.

She also talks about marketing, there are many places you can find contacts and network, like LinkedIn, LiveNet, and others. ST.

How long is a string? Let me give you some pointers here, but please remember you can always do more on the cost-cutting front in any small business and start-up business, like SOHO-, SME, SMB-, Micro-, Lifestyle-, Home-, DIY-, Hobby-, Boomer- or Personal business, like professional, contractors, freelancer, self-employed, sole-trader and virtual assistants.

1. Keep your staffing level low. As much as it may hurt, work longer hours yourself, until extra staff is economically viable.
2. Outsource all non-core business activities. This will reduce your fix-cost structure, make your small business more flexible and you can react faster to an economic down-turn.
3. Buy second hand. Do you really need the brand new van? Or computer, or……
4. Work from home, this will not only cut your cost, but may improve your work-life balance at the same time.
5. Let your staff work from home. No office cost, hire a room if you need to on an hourly basis.
6. Use online technology, so you don’t waste time and get distracted.
7. Focus on your core business and sales. Every distraction costs time and money, sales generates money.
8. Bootstrapping. Think before you spend a penny, could I borrow, hire or do it online, get creative.
9. Analyze your fixed cost every month. You will find things you don’t need – trust me you will.
10. Compare and get new quotes. Even if you need the service or product from your supplier, check others all the time, insurance, telephone, utilities, etc.
11. Get better payment terms. Ask to pay in 60 or 90 days, or get an early payment discount.
12. Check your bank charges – you’ll be surprised. Or have it done on a results basis, doesn’t cost you time and gets you money back.
13. Do credit control – get your money in lower your bank overdraft cost and charges.

This is only a short list of what you can do, but it’s a start. Remember even $100/£50 per month is $1200/£600 a year more in your pocket. ST.

Disclaimer: As with any of my readers questions, I do not have all the answers and here on my blog I can only give you some ideas, since I know very little about your small business. If any of you can add anything here do so for the benefit of my reader, who asked the question and everybody else, leave a comment below – I’d be most grateful.

As many of you know by know I’m a sucker for bootstrapping for small business and start-up business, like SOHO-, SME, SMB-, Micro-, Lifestyle-, Home-, DIY-, Hobby-, Boomer- or Personal business, like professional, contractors, freelancer, self-employed, sole-trader and virtual assistants, and outsourcing is a big part of my bootstrapping philosophy, so here a re a few pointers:

1. To outsource, or not to outsource …. . I would always outsource non-critical and non-core business functions, in other words, whatever it is that makes your small business different and unique you do yourself, because that is what earns your money. Anything else could and probably should be outsourced (see: outsourcing options for small business).
2. Do It Online. This will allow you to stay in close touch with your supplier, and get real time up-dates and feed-back – there are other benefits too.
3. Don’t abdicate. Outsourcing does not mean to forget these tasks, you just delegate them to someone outside of your company, you are still responsible.
4. Know who you are dealing with. Not all partners are the same, one virtual assistant is not like the next, the same is true for accountants, bookkeepers and other service providers.
5. Don’t become a favor. If your future partner says things like: ” I’m not sure if I have time, let me see.” or you new service provider makes you feel, as if they are doing you a favor, don’t deal with them, you need partners and not people you feel guilty calling.
6. Nobody answers the phone – put the phone down and do not call back. Anybody in this kind of service business should understand what service is all about, not answering the phone shows they don’t – they will leave you high and dry sooner or later.
7. Get references, if you can. Anybody who has been in business for 12 month or more should be able to give you at least one or two references. Don’t shun new service providers, check their CV, remember you may get a good deal and it is good to be one of the first customers.
8. Get a back-up. Negotiate a back-up deal if you can, so if your primary provider falls ill, you have a back-up, or divide the work between two or more service providers to begin with.
9. Pay on time. You want good service, pay on time. You want professional work, pay a decent retainer or hourly rate. If you don’t, you’ll be last on the work and service agenda, that means you business suffers. If you can’t afford the service don’t hire them.
10. Get at least three quotes and compare them. Just to make sure you don’t get taken to the proverbial cleaners, and to compare service levels. Don’t be afraid to ask for an explanation, if you don’t understand something.

Outsourcing is good for your fix-cost structure, should make you more professional, and help you to concentrate on your core-business. If it becomes a distraction, deal with it immediately, if need be change supplier. ST.