Why OutSource

Make Your Start-up Fly with Low Cost Virtual Assistants

Start-up companies are not easy businesses to manage, since both eyes, not one, have to be focused on costs and expenses while balancing being a cheapskate and an investor at the same time. There are great ways to save money while trying to break even, and harnessing the options available in the virtual world make sense especially in these times.

For example, if your start-up company is really small, do you really need to rent an office? There are other companies available that keep an office space in a prestigious address and you can sign on with them for a minimal fee. While you still have no need for a permanent office, you can make use of their mailing address, have your calls coursed through them, and make use of their conference rooms if need be.

It’s a win-win situation in the best way possible – you have a ritzy business address while paying fees and rental equivalent to a small office in the suburbs. Plus you have virtual receptionists forwarding your calls to you 24/7, mail room personnel handling your mail, and meeting facilities available just about any time.

And while on the subject of virtual employees, you can have virtual assistants from all over the world handling your business all day and night and all year round. Your business will literally never close.

The best jobs to outsource would be those that don’t require your personal attention, just your moderate supervision. For example, you don’t need to do your books personally, right? You could outsource that job for several hours twice a week, since that’s all the time that it needs anyway. You may already outsource your accounting, and your legal counsel as well. These are people that you don’t need to hire on retainer; try to negotiate a per project payment with them, if possible.

Virtual outsourcing saves you a ton of time and money in more ways than one. The most obvious is the salary cost, since people working in second- and third-world countries naturally expect to be paid for less than those in the first-world countries. Plus, you are not liable for their benefits or any taxes. Neither do you have to answer for sick leave or vacation leave. And best of all? You don’t need to pay taxes on them!

When you have a virtual assistant, the office space they take up is virtual as well. Meaning, you can afford to have a smaller office, which costs you less in taxes, rentals, equipment, and utilities.  The money that you can save there will go a long way towards promoting your business. The only key left is which virtual assistant company to work with, we personally have worked with this virtual assistant company and find it great.

And speaking of promotion, you can outsource that too, if you choose. You can hire a marketing firm to conceptualize your advertising campaign and also engage them to do it for you. If you decide to promote in the virtual way, you can also outsource people to create your website, to write for and update your blog, and to manage your social marketing accounts.

With all the benefits in the virtual world, the time is right to have a start-up company!

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Five Ways a Virtual Assistant Can Help Your Small Business Become Profitable

Don’t be embarrassed to say that you have a small business. In fact, small businesses have a terrific advantage over the big ones – they can still personalize their services and have an individualized relationship with their clients. And did you know that virtual assistants can help you get those return clients and hook in the new ones to earn you more money? Aside from that, there’s a way to get residual income just from going about your own business. Here’s five ways to make that possible.

1. Customer service that goes above and beyond. Why settle for ho-hum after sales service? This is the best way to grow your customer base with the least effort. Hire VAs to do the work for you, since they will charge you less, you can afford to have them online to answer questions and provide personal or electronic responses immediately. The better your customer email support service, the more loyal your customers will be. And if you get word-of-mouth advertising from that, all the better!

2. Monitor your market in real time. Use your VAs to do online research about your clients’ comments about the company. Your VAs can also note and file their comments or complaints appropriately so you can keep track of where your company needs improvements. What better way to earn money than by fixing problems while they are still manageable and by improving and maintaining where you are already doing well? You can only do this, though, with the proper information and research.

3. Keep a hawk-eye on your money. Your virtual assistant can handle jobs that keep track of income and expenses by keeping your accounts up-to-date which allows you to keep careful watch over your expenses. Especially in these times, you can’t afford to let you money go to waste! You MUST know where to put your money so your ROI is good.

4. Virtual assistants keep your business open 24/7. You can actually be “working” while you’re asleep! No matter what type of business or project you have, your VA can work on it while you are catching some z’s.  So, you can meet your deadline, get extra projects, hand in exceptional work on time, and still have a life. Aren’t virtual assistants great?

5. Make your marketing scheme make you extra money. Create an exceptional blog and website with the assistance of your VAs. While they are kept updated with great copy and earning you high marks on search engines worldwide,  you’ll be earning extra cash from affiliates that will buy space from you in order to cross-market their own company. High ranking blogs also attract pay-per-click advertising offers and will give you extra when your website is monetized.

This article was written exclusively for why-outsource by Nitin Aggarwal

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How to Outsource Planning Projects Before You Post Them on Freelance Job Boards

Over the past few years outsourcing has become a common source of saving money and getting work done online. People from all walks of life contribute to this widely accessed industry by posting assignments they need help with as buyers, or by posting their profiles as freelancers. As this trend is becoming a fact of life for many people, a frequent question is commonly asked, “How to outsource projects in order to get effective and efficient solutions?” Project planning experts always say, “The success of a project will depend solely on the amount of effort, skill and forethought you enforce in its initial planning”. It is important to take particular steps while planning projects before you finally post them on freelance job auction sites, this is required if you want to get true value for money.

Once you get a grasp of all the facts, you will be better qualified to design and post your job, this may possibly take a lot of practice to get right. Applying these techniques again and again will develop your project planning knowledge and in time you will truly acquire the secrets of outsourcing.

Rendering A Comprehensive Specification:

When you discover some task at home, that you think you could outsource online, you should at once note it down. Later when you decide it is something you want to pursue, you will need to make a well defined and detailed account of what you require from the service provider. Jot it down on a piece of paper or just use Notepad on your PC. Once you have got a brief description, you should begin to create a detailed specification for your provider so that your job can be done effectively and efficiently. Remember, a great specification is the most basic step towards effective project planning before outsourcing a project. Ensure you keep in mind the following while writing specifications:

• The heading should clearly display who the job is for e.g. Expert Writer for Software Documentation Project and.Net software engineer for GPS based iPhone Ring Tones.

• The spec must be short and explained in uncomplicated and easy language, you should make it reader friendly so that providers don’t hesitate reading it. Usually a short but vivid specification based on two to three paragraphs is recommended.

• It should have a set due date. Clearly state the skill sets required, and request some sample work.

• You should give a budget so providers who see your project can come to a decision whether it pays enoughfor them to persue or not.

Here are a few of the most expert tips you should hold in the forefront of your mind while finding out ‘how to outsource’.

Price and issues about payment:

You can get anything for a large fee! But getting true value for the money spent is and can be, difficult and requires a lot of thinking and planning. If your job is a long one and you want to continuously monitor your providers progress, it could be better that you go for hourly payments for your project. If you have a short term project and supervising your provider is not important then simply go for fixed price. Always remember, good providers favor hourly jobs. Always sort price issues before you delegate the job, endeavor to assess your providers experience before you decide to pay the amount requested. If he or she is absent any necessary skills, try to persuade them to a lesser amount.

Some Secrets!

These are important outsourcing secrets which you should be aware of while planning your projects and studying outsourcing:

• Always ask for sample work.

• Let your provider know that you have more assignments if the job is completed professionally. This will ensure that the job gets completed to the highest possible standard.

• Make it a habit to put a due date four days before you want the job to be finished, this will give you an opportunity to ask for any changes. This will also cover you in case the provider is late!

• Make it a habit to set your budget lower than you can afford.

• If service providers have bid a large amount, ask them if they would drop their prices; you never know when they may agree!

It is hoped that if you take anything away from this article, that it is the fact that project planning is an integral any outsourcing project, whatever the size or budget.

Steven Brough is a Technical Designer and a Project Manager from New Zealand. You can read more about learning how to outsource and other outsourcing tips at Steven’s website http://www.freelancerselite.com

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7 Reasons to Outsource Payroll Services

Is it really possible that some companies are hesitant to employ the staff needed to grow their business because they think they will need to manage complicated payroll systems?

It is certainly true that regardless of the size of a business, the increasing complexity of payroll systems – managing wages, taxation, annual leave, PAYG, different state jurisdictions and superannuation – means that specialist knowledge is required for these functions to be carried out properly.

Medium to large businesses have for many years understood the benefits of using specialist payroll companies to manage their payroll requirements. What is becoming evident, however, is the growing need for small business payroll services as well.

Those businesses, whether large companies or SMEs, that have taken the step to outsource payroll services, have based their decision on these realisations, and have not looked back:

1. Payroll Australia differs from many other countries in that regulations and requirements can change between states. If you have a national workforce, in-house payroll management can be extremely time-consuming.

2. While there are some impressive payroll software solutions available, by outsourcing payroll functions, the need to rely on a dedicated staff member to perform payroll services is eliminated. There is no interruption to the payroll function when staff members are on leave.

3. They see outsourcing payroll functions as part of their risk management plan, because the provider ensures that the client meets all requirements for governance and compliance.

4. Professional payroll companies are able to clearly define the separation of duties, providing transparency and an audit trail if needed.

5. There is no need for them to update systems and software and retrain staff if and when laws and regulations change.

6. Payroll companies are able to quickly adjust to meet the evolving demands of a business. Whether these changes are integration, downsizing, physical and geographical expansion a quality payroll services will have the flexibility to match these needs.

7. Quality payroll services provide their clients’ with online access to leave application and expenses processing, further eliminating the need for ancillary staff to manage these functions.

Successful businesses recognise that ability to do away with internal payroll systems has a measurable cost/benefit ratio. However, the peace of mind that results from knowing that this important function is being managed professionally is immeasurable!

Don’t wait another day to discover how your business can improve by outsourcing your payroll requirements. Refocus on your core business and profit from the increased productivity.
Discover for yourself how Aussiepay innovator and leader in the payroll services and payroll systems an tailor a system that will seamlessly integrate with your current work

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Managed Solutions and Outsourcing

Company networks are typically complex with an original network design which has had ad hoc extensions and additions to it over time. The added layers increase the complexity, but also the need for staff who understand what the systems are and how they can be managed. How this patchwork is managed in practice may not be optimal for the company as workarounds and when even relatively junior staff leave the company or are absent through illness, severe problems arise.

Patchwork networks are typically expensive to operate: the Pareto Principle or 80:20 rule applies with 80% of an IT department’s budget being taken up in operating the network and 20% (if you are lucky) available for new projects. This represents an almost universal conundrum for IT departments and company decision makers: to streamline the network so the cost base is reduced while maintaining or improving utility and productivity usually means a heavy capital investment. The size of the new investment usually is regarded as outweighing the current high operational cost of running the network, but there is another way of tackling high network costs and declining utility – outsourcing aspects of network management.

Outsourcing confers several major advantages to your network and business operation:

· Cost control – you are effectively delegating tasks for a price which is preset when you negotiate the contract. In this regard you are fixing your costs instead of being presented with the potentially blank check of in-house management of your network. It is unusual for outsourcing to increase your operating costs, but this does happen and almost invariably it is as a result of a decision to improve the level of service previously enjoyed;

· Expertise – in-house IT staff may be competent but there is a price to be paid for focusing on one network or subset of a network. IT staff become stale and inured to broader IT developments outside the company and this leads to a decline in expertise inside the business. Using an external consultancy means bringing in skills and experience which has been honed in the general client pool of that outsourcer and in the general IT world which means you gain access to the latest developments and technology solutions available;

· Skills transfer – one aspect which is frequently overlooked is the ability to transfer knowledge and skills to your in-house team. Outsourcing need not be a once-and-for-all solution but a process by which you maintain skill and experience levels for use within your own organization. This requires a managed solution provider with the mindset that they will be actively using designated staff resources within your company to help them gain experience and skills for use within the company and in the future;

· Introducing Network Management Solutions – managed solution providers are able to help solve the conundrum of managing patchwork network systems by implementing unified management tools. This solves the need to invest capital to simplify the network but does simplify the management of the disparate systems involved.

Managed solution providers are not a universal panacea, however for clients who are at the point where they are looking to improve network service and utility, simplify managing a patchwork network and reduce costs, they are an obvious alternative to substantial capital investment.

Lawrence Reaves is a strong believer in Richmond IT services such as Richmond cloud computing services and Richmond network security. For these services, Lawrence recommends PLANIT Technology Group. PLANIT Technology Group can be found online at: PLANITTech.com.

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