Outsourcing Options For Small Business

A couple of days ago I mentioned the excellent posting from Kathie ” Virtual Assistant or Virtual Worker” followed by my own post of yesterday “Grow your small business - success or failure will follow“. This all leads us to the next question what to do when you decided you are going to get help for your small or start-up business.

Kathie highlighted two options, the virtual worker - who like her husband works as a contractor or the virtual assistant who takes care of certain work on a timeshare basis for an indefinite amount of time. The only other option is employing staff full time into your business.

Virtual Assistants will enable you to outsource - what I call non core business processes, like bookkeeping, call handling, typing, etc. - to a professional person, well equipped to perform these tasks for you in a cost-effective manner and I do not mean cheap, I mean cost-effective. It is also noteworthy that you will not have to provide office space, work-tools, computer, heating, etc. for virtual assistants, as they usually work from home. look at it this way, you are getting a professional on a timeshare basis, and believe me when I say, having you phone answered in a professional manner makes a lot of difference to your business, or keeping up with your bookkeeping, so you know where you are - this all will make your business much more professional. Businesses and people like to do business with professionals.

Virtual workers can be from a “Temp-Agency” or a from contracting firms. These relationships are for finite projects or to fill a cap, due to permanent staff illness on a temporary basis - they are limited by time or project. So again you can afford to bring in professionals, to perform tasks for you or your clients.

Both of these relationships are good for your cost-planning because they are not fixed, permanent costs, they are variable cost, meaning, when the project is finished the contract for your temp-workers, contractors finishes too. If times are harder for your business and you need save cost it is often easier and faster to terminate a virtual assistant - but remember to explain your decision, so that when your small business is doing better again you can start working with your virtual assistant again.

Employing people full time should only be considered for “essential, ongoing and full-time” work, this way you can provide a more secure workplace for your employee and look forward to a peaceful and unstressed work environment.

Building a support network community for your small business and start-up business, like SOHO-, SME, SMB-, Micro-, Lifestyle-, Home-, DIY-, Hobby-, Boomer-, Professional-, Personal businesses is essential to your survival. Remember, the contractor you hire today, may hire you tomorrow on a project he or she is working on - networking is the way to go.

11 Responses to “Outsourcing Options For Small Business”

1. THE SMALL BUSINESS BLOG » Blog Archive » Virtual Assistants Round Up At Katie’s
   http://www.sme-blog.com/small-business/virtual-assistants/virtual-assistants-round-up-at-katies
   
   Said on October 10th, 2007 at 8:24 am

   […] Outsourcing Options For Small BusinessFocus on your business, timeshare professionals. […]

2. THE SMALL BUSINESS BLOG » Blog Archive » Cynicism rules, tell them what’s in it for you.
   http://www.sme-blog.com/small-business/virtual-assistants/cynicism-rules-tell-them-whats-in-it-for-you
   
   Said on October 11th, 2007 at 6:30 am

   […] Outsourcing Options For Small BusinessFocus on your business, timeshare professionals. […]

3. THE SMALL BUSINESS BLOG » Blog Archive » Q & A: Can You Give Me A Cost Example For A Small Home Office?
   http://www.sme-blog.com/small-business/virtual-assistants/q-a-can-you-give-me-a-cost-example-for-a-small-home-office
   
   Said on October 16th, 2007 at 1:11 pm

   […] Outsourcing Options For Small BusinessFocus on your business, timeshare professionals. […]

4. THE SMALL BUSINESS BLOG » Blog Archive » Q & A: What Are The Problems With Staff In A Small Business?
   http://www.sme-blog.com/small-business/q-a-what-are-the-problems-with-staff-in-a-small-business
   
   Said on October 17th, 2007 at 12:21 pm

   […] Outsourcing Options For Small BusinessFocus on your business, timeshare professionals. […]

5. THE SMALL BUSINESS BLOG » Blog Archive » Q & A: What are successful cost-cutting solutions in small business?
   http://www.sme-blog.com/small-business/virtual-assistants/q-a-what-are-successful-cost-cutting-solutions-in-small-business
   
   Said on October 18th, 2007 at 11:50 am

   […] Outsourcing Options For Small BusinessFocus on your business, timeshare professionals. […]

6. THE SMALL BUSINESS BLOG » Blog Archive » Q & A: What does “Fixed Costs” mean and why should they be as low as possible in a Small Business?
   http://www.sme-blog.com/office-it/internet/q-a-what-does-fixed-costs-mean-and-why-should-they-be-as-low-as-possible-in-a-small-business
   
   Said on October 25th, 2007 at 8:18 am

   […] Outsourcing Options For Small BusinessFocus on your business, timeshare professionals. […]

7. THE SMALL BUSINESS BLOG » Blog Archive » The Week Ender: 2008 And The Party Is Over Or Is It?
   http://www.sme-blog.com/the-week-ender/the-week-ender-2008-and-the-party-is-over-or-is-it
   
   Said on January 4th, 2008 at 7:32 am

   […] Outsourcing Options For Small BusinessFocus on your business, timeshare professionals. […]

8. Virtual Miss Friday
   http://www.virtualmissfriday.co.uk
   
   Said on January 29th, 2008 at 11:38 pm

   Hi, Just wanted to say a big thank you for the mention on Virtual Assistants, as an industry professional it is so refreshing to see more people offering awareness of our services. Michelle.

9. James
   http://www.atmmultimedia.com
   
   Said on March 24th, 2008 at 1:13 pm

   Hi,

   I am pleased that you’ve covered about virtual assistants, I know that I can’t do everything myself, I’d rather pay someone to do the boring jobs, so I can focus on the more important things.

   Many Thanks

10. Mizpah Magazine
    http://www.mizpah.tv
    
    Said on April 10th, 2008 at 4:02 pm

    Considering doing this myself, tried a while back but I know of one company that went under by outsourcing everything, so be careful!

11. Sammer
    http://www.edevelopernetwork.com
    
    Said on May 9th, 2008 at 11:56 pm

    if you consider yourself worth $50/hour then why do something which someone can do for $10/hour

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