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.

17 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

12. Child Minder Judy
    http://www.child-central.com
    
    Said on May 31st, 2008 at 2:23 am

    I have trouble managing my childcare business lately. There are so many things that needs to be taken care of. From housekeeping to teachers ….and not to mention getting people to develop materials for us. I am considering outsourcing some of those jobs..but i also am very concern that some of the housekeeping staffs will lose their jobs. They’ve been around a long time and its going to be a tough decision for me. One option i have thought of is helping them to be employed by an outsourcing company which then assign them to service my center. Hope this will work.

13. Stefan Töpfer
    http://www.winweb.com
    
    Said on May 31st, 2008 at 8:39 am

    Hi Judy,

    Thank you for your comment.

    Letting staff go is never an easy option, especially when you have had a long term relationship.

    But consider this, it may be better to let some staff go now and with this help to secure the long term future of the other staff members. The option would be to risk the whole business and all jobs, nobody is going to be grateful for that.

    Here is another option for your staff, maybe they could work for you freelance, start their own business and look for other business opportunities to fill the books. You could help them to find some other clients, by giving them the endorsement you gave them in your above comment.

    But you are doing the right thing, looking at your over-heads and keeping your business safe.

    – Stefan

14. Amit
    http://www.csius.com
    
    Said on June 27th, 2008 at 2:32 pm

    Hi Stefan
    just came across your blog and found it quite useful for small/medium size businesses.
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    Regards
    Amit,CompuSystems
    www.csius.com
    amitoj@csius.com

15. Aruba Reviews
    http://www.arubareviews.com
    
    Said on July 29th, 2008 at 6:55 am

    Sometimes you need to understand when outsourcing is the smartest decision for your company. It is never black or white… so you need to consider all the scenarios and the long benefit for your business.

16. Don
    http://www.anchorpointdesignsd.com
    
    Said on July 30th, 2008 at 10:54 pm

    For us as a small business, it’s vital that we continue to have a good working relationship with the companies we outsource with. Once we get to a point where we can carry most of those tasks in house, we will consider scaling back our outsourcing requirements. Until then, it is a must.

    Building that trust and solid working relationship is the key. It’s helpful to start off with small projects to see if the business connection will work, then move on to bigger more extensive projects.

17. LOGO DESIGN EXPERT
    http://www.logomotto.com
    
    Said on August 22nd, 2008 at 4:37 pm

    @Aruba

    Outsourcing can be black and white. The most important thing in finding the right person is his online or local reputation. References always reveal the true colors.

    Maybe for some businesses in regards to their specific products or services, outsourcing won’t work in terms of time differences.

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