Author name: Getfriday

'Insights' is an internal team at GetFriday, working very closely with entrepreneurs and small business owners all across the globe. GetFriday's Insights team consist of the sales, marketing, SEO, content and operations professionals of the company, who are all very dedicated towards their work and who strive to engage, inform and impart valuable knowledge and research to business professionals across multiple industries.

Superhero Syndrome At Large Among Small Business Owners

Being a superhero for your children, spouse, parents or partner is great, but the same cannot be said about your business. Sure, you may run a successful single-office agency and could be the jack of all trades for your business. But do you realize it could be detrimental if you are the master of none? Most entrepreneurs take great pride in completing every task and jump at every small opportunity to be the only ones at the helms of their businesses. Chris Ducker, the author of ‘Virtual Freedom’ has coined a term for this situation and calls it the ‘Superhero Syndrome‘, a prevalent condition wherein entrepreneurs and small business owners believe that they can handle everything on their own without having to delegate or subcontract work. Though there is nothing wrong with handling everything yourself, it is only prudent to outsource dreary business processes to specialized Virtual Assistants at the right time. This could save you from facing a burnout in the long run, can positively impact your business and give you the opportunity to let professionals handle specialist tasks at a fraction of the cost! What’s more, you have access to a large pool of skills and can outsource practically any aspect of the business you like! So, what do you do, you ask? What you should really be focusing on as a small business owner is to give more value to your clients, measure results, build ideas and re-strategize your business for the future. Take a look at what you need to know about overcoming the ‘Superhero Syndrome’ Repetitiveness And Systemization In a business, you’ll find that a lot of processes are repetitive and the repetition can in fact, be systemized. Consider a car service centre, for example. When a car has been taken to a service centre, mechanics take their time to gauge the problems with the car before they get down to fixing them. However, when it comes to specialized jobs such as fixing the filters in the car or changing the cover for the seats, mechanics may not be able to handle these tasks themselves. There are specialized contractors and suppliers who provide these products and/or services. When a filter or a seat cover needs to be changed, service centres will not waste their clients? time and their resources by learning how to change these filters internally or manufacturing leather seat covers themselves. They will instead, outsource the work to the professionals who carry out bulk supplies of these certain products outside the service centre. A final markup to the price is added, before handing your car back to you. Ergo, the service centre is benefitting from making additional money out of a job that they are not even doing and are building a name for themselves. This is all thanks to the fabulous job done by the specialist suppliers/vendors, who helped the centre with their timely ? ‘behind-the-scenes’ support. Okay, So How Does It Help My Business? Think about a similar situation for your business. You could outsource everyday functions to a professional Virtual Assistance company like GetFriday and end up saving a lot of time and money. This will ensure that you don’t work your way out of your own business and will also give you the time to re-focus on the core functions while your able team of Virtual Assistant professionals work behind the scenes and handle other aspects of your business for you. On The Lighter Side? It is okay to have delusions of being a superhero. But learning when to get your sidekicks (in this case, your Virtual Assistants) into the picture and sharing the load with them can help you do a better job of running the business and still give you the opportunity to govern the work being done. Let’s take the classic examples of Batman and Robin for instance. Though we know which one of the two shoulders the mantle all the way through, Robin’s character was created for two very simple yet important reasons- 1.Batman needed a friend, a brother and a confidante. Someone he could talk to because a hero can very often find himself ‘alone’ in the humdrum of everyday life. 2.Robin, the Boy Wonder, was not just a wingman, but also a vigilante who kept Batman from making the wrong choices and was always around to ‘help’ Batman fight crime. The reasons are straight forward. No matter how big a superhero you are, you will, at some point, require ‘help’. Whether it is a boy in green hot-pants who comes to the rescue or a resourceful Virtual Assistant, halfway across the world from you, a helping hand is all you need to ease your work burdens and can make you and your business a better one. Got It. What Do I Do Now? Take control and start by making a list that contains the following three columns- Outsourcing what you don’t like to do Outsourcing what you shouldn’t be doing Outsourcing what you can’t do Once you have written down your tasks under each column, it will become easier for you to delegate your work to your professional Virtual Assistants. Your online virtual assistants will work flexibly to understand and learn the ways of your business and probably do your work better than what you would have done! Rest assured, your Virtual Assistants can handle pretty much all your boring business functions and do a lot more specialist tasks that you wouldn’t be able to do yourself i.e. handling all your web page requirements, writing blogs, graphic designing, specialized SEO services, email management, accounting and so much more! Be a real superhero by outsourcing unimportant functions in your business and take out more time to do high-value work, build networks or make time for the family. This will help you focus better on doing the things you love, can do and should do!

Superhero Syndrome At Large Among Small Business Owners Read More »

Being a superhero for your children, spouse, parents or partner is great, but the same cannot be said about your business. Sure, you may run a successful single-office agency and could be the jack of all trades for your business. But do you realize it could be detrimental if you are the master of none? Most entrepreneurs take great pride in completing every task and jump at every small opportunity to be the only ones at the helms of their businesses. Chris Ducker, the author of ‘Virtual Freedom’ has coined a term for this situation and calls it the ‘Superhero Syndrome‘, a prevalent condition wherein entrepreneurs and small business owners believe that they can handle everything on their own without having to delegate or subcontract work. Though there is nothing wrong with handling everything yourself, it is only prudent to outsource dreary business processes to specialized Virtual Assistants at the right time. This could save you from facing a burnout in the long run, can positively impact your business and give you the opportunity to let professionals handle specialist tasks at a fraction of the cost! What’s more, you have access to a large pool of skills and can outsource practically any aspect of the business you like! So, what do you do, you ask? What you should really be focusing on as a small business owner is to give more value to your clients, measure results, build ideas and re-strategize your business for the future. Take a look at what you need to know about overcoming the ‘Superhero Syndrome’ Repetitiveness And Systemization In a business, you’ll find that a lot of processes are repetitive and the repetition can in fact, be systemized. Consider a car service centre, for example. When a car has been taken to a service centre, mechanics take their time to gauge the problems with the car before they get down to fixing them. However, when it comes to specialized jobs such as fixing the filters in the car or changing the cover for the seats, mechanics may not be able to handle these tasks themselves. There are specialized contractors and suppliers who provide these products and/or services. When a filter or a seat cover needs to be changed, service centres will not waste their clients? time and their resources by learning how to change these filters internally or manufacturing leather seat covers themselves. They will instead, outsource the work to the professionals who carry out bulk supplies of these certain products outside the service centre. A final markup to the price is added, before handing your car back to you. Ergo, the service centre is benefitting from making additional money out of a job that they are not even doing and are building a name for themselves. This is all thanks to the fabulous job done by the specialist suppliers/vendors, who helped the centre with their timely ? ‘behind-the-scenes’ support. Okay, So How Does It Help My Business? Think about a similar situation for your business. You could outsource everyday functions to a professional Virtual Assistance company like GetFriday and end up saving a lot of time and money. This will ensure that you don’t work your way out of your own business and will also give you the time to re-focus on the core functions while your able team of Virtual Assistant professionals work behind the scenes and handle other aspects of your business for you. On The Lighter Side? It is okay to have delusions of being a superhero. But learning when to get your sidekicks (in this case, your Virtual Assistants) into the picture and sharing the load with them can help you do a better job of running the business and still give you the opportunity to govern the work being done. Let’s take the classic examples of Batman and Robin for instance. Though we know which one of the two shoulders the mantle all the way through, Robin’s character was created for two very simple yet important reasons- 1.Batman needed a friend, a brother and a confidante. Someone he could talk to because a hero can very often find himself ‘alone’ in the humdrum of everyday life. 2.Robin, the Boy Wonder, was not just a wingman, but also a vigilante who kept Batman from making the wrong choices and was always around to ‘help’ Batman fight crime. The reasons are straight forward. No matter how big a superhero you are, you will, at some point, require ‘help’. Whether it is a boy in green hot-pants who comes to the rescue or a resourceful Virtual Assistant, halfway across the world from you, a helping hand is all you need to ease your work burdens and can make you and your business a better one. Got It. What Do I Do Now? Take control and start by making a list that contains the following three columns- Outsourcing what you don’t like to do Outsourcing what you shouldn’t be doing Outsourcing what you can’t do Once you have written down your tasks under each column, it will become easier for you to delegate your work to your professional Virtual Assistants. Your online virtual assistants will work flexibly to understand and learn the ways of your business and probably do your work better than what you would have done! Rest assured, your Virtual Assistants can handle pretty much all your boring business functions and do a lot more specialist tasks that you wouldn’t be able to do yourself i.e. handling all your web page requirements, writing blogs, graphic designing, specialized SEO services, email management, accounting and so much more! Be a real superhero by outsourcing unimportant functions in your business and take out more time to do high-value work, build networks or make time for the family. This will help you focus better on doing the things you love, can do and should do!

Ten Reasons For Small Businesses To Outsource

The year 2009, for entrepreneur Chris Ducker, was fraught with commitments above and beyond necessary. He had a doting family to go back home to, but being an entrepreneur meant that he had to forego his personal time and suffer many sleepless nights because it was more about being ‘in’ the business rather than being ‘on top of things’. Luckily for him, he made some smart choices and was well on his way to gain that much-needed respite through outsourcing. Now, he works an average of 6 hours a day, can look into personal commitments, focus on building new business goals and advocates Virtual Assistance services, all the time! If you’re managing a start-up and you’ve blown that amazing business opportunity because you missed a follow-up deadline or were too tied up with routine administrative operations for your business, then hiring a Virtual Assistant is something you might want to consider. However, the thought of hiring a Virtual Assistant for a first-time outsourcer can immediately trigger a feeling like the world is about to zap all the cash from your bank account. But it is not always so. In one of the earlier blogs in the series, we stressed on how to decide ‘when the right time is to outsource. In this blog post, we’ll give you plenty reasons as to ‘why’ you should outsource- especially if you are a small business owner or an entrepreneur. Read on! 1. Reduced Costs As much as small businessmen would like to believe, hiring a virtual assistant can in fact save you money instead of stretching your budget. Since a virtual assistant is not a full time employee, you won’t need to worry about payroll taxes, sick leave, vacation pay, health insurance etc. In the case of virtual assistants, they only get paid for the hours they work and in turn, add more value to your investment. For example: You might end up paying an in-house employee for 40 hours of work per week, despite the employee taking coffee breaks, going out to use the restroom and making ceaseless phone calls. However, if you hire a Virtual Assistant and you have purchased only 20 hours worth of work per month, you will end up paying the Virtual Assistant for only 5 hours of work per week! That’s a difference of almost 8 times! Ergo, it is safe to say that the costs of hiring a VA are a lot lesser as compared to hiring a full-time employee. 2. You Don’t Need To Provide Office Space The best part about outsourcing is that you don’t need to worry about providing an office space for your Virtual Assistant. Global Virtual Assistants use their personal computers and their own internet connections to execute the tasks you send them. If you are a small business and you think that hiring a group of in-house employees and providing for large offices right away could cost your business, outsourcing could come across as a boon for you. 3. Training For VA’s Is Not Required Every year, businesses spend thousands of dollars on training employees to update their knowledge on new software, tools and the latest technology. By outsourcing your work to a Virtual Assistant, you can easily save on all this money because Virtual Assistants are already trained and are quite well-versed with the latest online tools and software because their jobs demand it. Depending on the nature of tasks you want to outsource, you can either choose general Virtual Assistants, who are jacks-of-all and are all-rounders, or you could choose to hire specialist Virtual Assistants who are proficient at one particular job. 4. A Pool of Resources To Choose From If you choose to partner with an outsourcing company, you’ll be working with a melting pot of specialists and gain access to a large pool of online resources. You won’t have to go looking to hire specialists, sifting through countless applications and interviewing hundreds of people. If you are a small business and you don’t want to waste your company’s resources and time searching for the right specialists for your job, partnering with an outsourcing company is easily be one of your best bets. Once you SignUp, you will be able to outsource tasks of multiple natures to your Personal Virtual Assistant and then relax, knowing that your tasks are in safe and experienced hands. 5. You Can Quit Anytime Firing an in-house employee can be a long and tedious process and there may even be instances, wherein you will need to abide by employee agreements if you want to avoid lawsuits. With a Global Virtual Assistant however, you don’t need to worry about any of it. You have the flexibility to fire your virtual assistant instantly and easily if deadlines are missed or the assistant repeatedly makes mistakes despite feedback. 6. Get Your Tasks Completed On Time & Efficiently As a small business owner, you’ll realize that you have a ton of work to complete, no matter how important, tedious or repetitive. Who said that being an entrepreneur was easy? The trick to finding the right balance, is to work on tasks that have greater value (monetary or otherwise) and outsource the rest to your personal virtual assistant. This way you’ll find that your other tasks (which you don’t like to do or find too boring or time-consuming to complete) are being handled a lot more efficiently and are completed within the stipulated deadlines. 7. Boost Productivity If you are a hard working entrepreneur or a small business owner and want to get more done in less time, you can boost your productivity with outsourcing. Having virtual assistants take care of all the tasks that you don’t like to do yourself means that you will gain that extra hour or two to focus on other important jobs and tasks at hand, thereby maximizing productivity and making more time for yourself in the day. 8. Re-Location & Travel Becomes A Lot Easier If you are traveling, have

Ten Reasons For Small Businesses To Outsource Read More »

The year 2009, for entrepreneur Chris Ducker, was fraught with commitments above and beyond necessary. He had a doting family to go back home to, but being an entrepreneur meant that he had to forego his personal time and suffer many sleepless nights because it was more about being ‘in’ the business rather than being ‘on top of things’. Luckily for him, he made some smart choices and was well on his way to gain that much-needed respite through outsourcing. Now, he works an average of 6 hours a day, can look into personal commitments, focus on building new business goals and advocates Virtual Assistance services, all the time! If you’re managing a start-up and you’ve blown that amazing business opportunity because you missed a follow-up deadline or were too tied up with routine administrative operations for your business, then hiring a Virtual Assistant is something you might want to consider. However, the thought of hiring a Virtual Assistant for a first-time outsourcer can immediately trigger a feeling like the world is about to zap all the cash from your bank account. But it is not always so. In one of the earlier blogs in the series, we stressed on how to decide ‘when the right time is to outsource. In this blog post, we’ll give you plenty reasons as to ‘why’ you should outsource- especially if you are a small business owner or an entrepreneur. Read on! 1. Reduced Costs As much as small businessmen would like to believe, hiring a virtual assistant can in fact save you money instead of stretching your budget. Since a virtual assistant is not a full time employee, you won’t need to worry about payroll taxes, sick leave, vacation pay, health insurance etc. In the case of virtual assistants, they only get paid for the hours they work and in turn, add more value to your investment. For example: You might end up paying an in-house employee for 40 hours of work per week, despite the employee taking coffee breaks, going out to use the restroom and making ceaseless phone calls. However, if you hire a Virtual Assistant and you have purchased only 20 hours worth of work per month, you will end up paying the Virtual Assistant for only 5 hours of work per week! That’s a difference of almost 8 times! Ergo, it is safe to say that the costs of hiring a VA are a lot lesser as compared to hiring a full-time employee. 2. You Don’t Need To Provide Office Space The best part about outsourcing is that you don’t need to worry about providing an office space for your Virtual Assistant. Global Virtual Assistants use their personal computers and their own internet connections to execute the tasks you send them. If you are a small business and you think that hiring a group of in-house employees and providing for large offices right away could cost your business, outsourcing could come across as a boon for you. 3. Training For VA’s Is Not Required Every year, businesses spend thousands of dollars on training employees to update their knowledge on new software, tools and the latest technology. By outsourcing your work to a Virtual Assistant, you can easily save on all this money because Virtual Assistants are already trained and are quite well-versed with the latest online tools and software because their jobs demand it. Depending on the nature of tasks you want to outsource, you can either choose general Virtual Assistants, who are jacks-of-all and are all-rounders, or you could choose to hire specialist Virtual Assistants who are proficient at one particular job. 4. A Pool of Resources To Choose From If you choose to partner with an outsourcing company, you’ll be working with a melting pot of specialists and gain access to a large pool of online resources. You won’t have to go looking to hire specialists, sifting through countless applications and interviewing hundreds of people. If you are a small business and you don’t want to waste your company’s resources and time searching for the right specialists for your job, partnering with an outsourcing company is easily be one of your best bets. Once you SignUp, you will be able to outsource tasks of multiple natures to your Personal Virtual Assistant and then relax, knowing that your tasks are in safe and experienced hands. 5. You Can Quit Anytime Firing an in-house employee can be a long and tedious process and there may even be instances, wherein you will need to abide by employee agreements if you want to avoid lawsuits. With a Global Virtual Assistant however, you don’t need to worry about any of it. You have the flexibility to fire your virtual assistant instantly and easily if deadlines are missed or the assistant repeatedly makes mistakes despite feedback. 6. Get Your Tasks Completed On Time & Efficiently As a small business owner, you’ll realize that you have a ton of work to complete, no matter how important, tedious or repetitive. Who said that being an entrepreneur was easy? The trick to finding the right balance, is to work on tasks that have greater value (monetary or otherwise) and outsource the rest to your personal virtual assistant. This way you’ll find that your other tasks (which you don’t like to do or find too boring or time-consuming to complete) are being handled a lot more efficiently and are completed within the stipulated deadlines. 7. Boost Productivity If you are a hard working entrepreneur or a small business owner and want to get more done in less time, you can boost your productivity with outsourcing. Having virtual assistants take care of all the tasks that you don’t like to do yourself means that you will gain that extra hour or two to focus on other important jobs and tasks at hand, thereby maximizing productivity and making more time for yourself in the day. 8. Re-Location & Travel Becomes A Lot Easier If you are traveling, have

Six Activities To Grow Your Business

It is no secret that business owners and SME’s outsource, because it gives them more time to grow and streamline their practices. Entrepreneurs have long believed that outsourcing is a practice that only big companies can afford. However, more small businesses and entrepreneurs are outsourcing today because they can’t meet the expenses of in-house support services that larger companies maintain and because handling a number of onerous procedures and processes could slow down the process of growth. By outsourcing, businesspersons can get close to 5-6 hours of renewed time for themselves and profitably utilize their time to build better businesses with a few of these post-outsourcing activities. Following are the 6 activities small business owners fulfill post-outsourcing:   1. They Attend Business Meetings Outsourcing gives a businessman more time to think and dream for the business without limitations and ideate on the overall strategy and vision. Smaller businesses know that they have to make their businesses more competitive in order to survive and meetings are a powerful business weapon that encourage personal interactions and provide a great avenue for the quick pooling of ideas whilst giving a business owner a good reality check on the progress. Once a business’ lengthy processes have been outsourced, business owners have the opportunity to conduct and attend business meetings frequently and utilize these hours to discuss progress and work towards actuating plans. 2. They Streamline Their Business According to the founder of iTech Developers, Kevin McElligott, entrepreneurs ‘don’t realize that they can make things easie‘ and often undertake the burdens of shouldering all levels of business activity when they can outsource it instead. Through outsourcing, businesses can utilize the free time they get, to focus on the activities and strategies that really matter. Whether it is reorganizing the hierarchy, updating new technology or simplifying processes, small business owners have more time to focus on the important matters at hand, post-outsourcing. 3. They Travel for Business needs For dynamic businesses and entrepreneurs, travelling is most often a recurrent activity, is challenging and can take up a good bit of time. Whether it is travelling to close a deal in a new city, travelling to tap new markets or to acquire new projects; a small business owner cannot forego the opportunity to network or build partnerships through travelling, because of onerous business functions holding them back. Thanks to more small business owners taking to outsourcing in recent times, travel for business needs is an activity that entrepreneurs and small business owners undertake in their newly-gained time. 4. They Generate Fresh Ideas for Products & Implement Them With laborious or specialist functions outsourced, business professionals and small business owners have more time to pool ideas for new products and implement them. Time is one of the most important resources for a new business and to utilize this time to discuss fresh, untapped or niche ideas could generate more revenue for the business. Once a business has subcontracted work to a life outsourcing company like “GetFriday”, the business owner has cut off, what can safely be termed as “noise” and has effectively gained back time to discuss the makings of a new product and how it can help push the business to achieve its overall goals and vision. 5. They Acquire Other Businesses Once a business has delegated certain business functions to professionals or companies, they scour acquisition targets or at least plan for acquisitions if they have just started out. With renewed time, business owners focus on maximizing future synergies, realize cost-efficiencies for potential takeovers and significantly speed up their core processes to capitalize on future mergers and integrations. 6. They Spend Time With Friends & Family In the past, small business owners and first-time entrepreneurs undervalued the worth of their time. For example: When working out if a new venture would be financially viable they would have merely calculated the cost of materials and office space, but would have forgotten to add the cost of their time. This would have ultimately resulted in owners toiling away at odd hours for their business and losing out on important family time. In more recent times, business owners outsource mundane work and utilize the time they gain with their families. Delegating repetitive processes will give a good 3-5 hours of free time for business owners to spend with their parents, spouse, make it for their child’s graduation night, go on short joy rides/trips with friends, make it back home for anniversaries and occasions, and attend events and so much more! If you are a small business owner, outsourcing onerous processes early can help you with building a better future for the business and will also give you ample opportunities to plough back your new time to focus on other core activities, while managing your personal life. Sometimes, you really need to take a step back and strategize for your business and your life, while you let experts handle commonplace processes and functions for you.

Six Activities To Grow Your Business Read More »

It is no secret that business owners and SME’s outsource, because it gives them more time to grow and streamline their practices. Entrepreneurs have long believed that outsourcing is a practice that only big companies can afford. However, more small businesses and entrepreneurs are outsourcing today because they can’t meet the expenses of in-house support services that larger companies maintain and because handling a number of onerous procedures and processes could slow down the process of growth. By outsourcing, businesspersons can get close to 5-6 hours of renewed time for themselves and profitably utilize their time to build better businesses with a few of these post-outsourcing activities. Following are the 6 activities small business owners fulfill post-outsourcing:   1. They Attend Business Meetings Outsourcing gives a businessman more time to think and dream for the business without limitations and ideate on the overall strategy and vision. Smaller businesses know that they have to make their businesses more competitive in order to survive and meetings are a powerful business weapon that encourage personal interactions and provide a great avenue for the quick pooling of ideas whilst giving a business owner a good reality check on the progress. Once a business’ lengthy processes have been outsourced, business owners have the opportunity to conduct and attend business meetings frequently and utilize these hours to discuss progress and work towards actuating plans. 2. They Streamline Their Business According to the founder of iTech Developers, Kevin McElligott, entrepreneurs ‘don’t realize that they can make things easie‘ and often undertake the burdens of shouldering all levels of business activity when they can outsource it instead. Through outsourcing, businesses can utilize the free time they get, to focus on the activities and strategies that really matter. Whether it is reorganizing the hierarchy, updating new technology or simplifying processes, small business owners have more time to focus on the important matters at hand, post-outsourcing. 3. They Travel for Business needs For dynamic businesses and entrepreneurs, travelling is most often a recurrent activity, is challenging and can take up a good bit of time. Whether it is travelling to close a deal in a new city, travelling to tap new markets or to acquire new projects; a small business owner cannot forego the opportunity to network or build partnerships through travelling, because of onerous business functions holding them back. Thanks to more small business owners taking to outsourcing in recent times, travel for business needs is an activity that entrepreneurs and small business owners undertake in their newly-gained time. 4. They Generate Fresh Ideas for Products & Implement Them With laborious or specialist functions outsourced, business professionals and small business owners have more time to pool ideas for new products and implement them. Time is one of the most important resources for a new business and to utilize this time to discuss fresh, untapped or niche ideas could generate more revenue for the business. Once a business has subcontracted work to a life outsourcing company like “GetFriday”, the business owner has cut off, what can safely be termed as “noise” and has effectively gained back time to discuss the makings of a new product and how it can help push the business to achieve its overall goals and vision. 5. They Acquire Other Businesses Once a business has delegated certain business functions to professionals or companies, they scour acquisition targets or at least plan for acquisitions if they have just started out. With renewed time, business owners focus on maximizing future synergies, realize cost-efficiencies for potential takeovers and significantly speed up their core processes to capitalize on future mergers and integrations. 6. They Spend Time With Friends & Family In the past, small business owners and first-time entrepreneurs undervalued the worth of their time. For example: When working out if a new venture would be financially viable they would have merely calculated the cost of materials and office space, but would have forgotten to add the cost of their time. This would have ultimately resulted in owners toiling away at odd hours for their business and losing out on important family time. In more recent times, business owners outsource mundane work and utilize the time they gain with their families. Delegating repetitive processes will give a good 3-5 hours of free time for business owners to spend with their parents, spouse, make it for their child’s graduation night, go on short joy rides/trips with friends, make it back home for anniversaries and occasions, and attend events and so much more! If you are a small business owner, outsourcing onerous processes early can help you with building a better future for the business and will also give you ample opportunities to plough back your new time to focus on other core activities, while managing your personal life. Sometimes, you really need to take a step back and strategize for your business and your life, while you let experts handle commonplace processes and functions for you.

Debunking Common Outsourcing Myths

When you consider outsourcing, it means that you ideally want to avoid undertaking peripheral company functions on your own. Outsourcing has long been a strategic business practice and is a way of reorganizing or relocating a part of a company’s functions to a 3rd party, to boost productivity and improve business functions. Despite the numerous benefits that outsourcing can bring to the table, many first-timers or companies remain oblivious to the obvious and prefer handling all functions in-house due to the many myths and misconceptions associated with outsourcing. Through this post, we aim to debunk the 6 most prevalent outsourcing myths and unveil the realities.   Myth #1 – The Main Incentive For Companies To Outsource Are Reduced Costs Fact #1 – Companies Outsource For Other Reasons Than reducing Costs   For a very long time, companies outsourced because they believed that it would help reduce costs. Due to the mismatch in expectations and reality, the motives behind outsourcing has also evolved over time. Reduced costs may be ‘one’ of the incentives to outsource a function but definitely not the main reason anymore. Rather, the quality of the services provided and the quick access to specialist service providers who can complete a job in a much more efficient manner than an in-house employee, have become some of the major impetuses to outsource. Let’s face it. If your company is not very proficient with SEO, chances are that an outsourcing partner that has a specialist team for SEO, can generate quicker results for your company and work more efficiently.   Myth #2 – There Will Be Cultural & Language Disparities Fact #2 – Outsourcing Companies Are Trained To Handle Cross-Cultural Exchange   Apart from being just a myth, cultural and language disparities are also some of the greatest fears for first-time outsourcers. The fear being, that cultural and language barriers can pose obstacles during the process of exchanging vital information. However, it is safe to say that this is just a misconception. Most outsourcing companies hire qualified professionals that are experienced in cross-cultural exchange and are proficient with multiple languages, including English. India, Russia and Philippines are at the top of the league when it comes to deploying professional customer support teams who are both, fluent and familiar with multiple cultures and the English language.   Myth #3 – Clients Have No Control Once The Job Is Outsourced Fact #3 – You Have As Much Control As You Would With An In-House Team! This is one of the most prevalent outsourcing myths and is not as difficult to manage as most companies or people would like to believe. With check-points and methodologies established with the outsourcer, you can offer your suggestions, tested practices, sample frameworks and carry out regular checks on the progress of the job being done once you have outsourced a task. Frequent information-exchange and communication is a necessity and the more you exert control over an outsourcing company, the better your results and your personal virtual assistants‘ efficiency. By providing feedback, you will not only be encouraging your virtual assistant to do better, but you will also be establishing a great working relationship.   Myth #4 – Outsourcing Is For The Big Companies Fact #4 – Small Business Enterprises Have Benefited More With Outsourcing In The Recent Past   No one can take away the fact that large enterprises have made the best use of outsourcing in the past, but let’s not forget the scale on which these big companies outsourced. The decision to outsource nowadays is supported by different reasons for different companies and in the case of start-ups, they are driven to outsource because of the countless benefits. More small businesses are taking to outsourcing today to add value, know-how and experience to their business functions. It is all the more important for small businesses to focus on their core functions and grow their business rather than spend all their valuable time on laborious jobs that can be handled by professionals. An advantage in today’s time and age is that many outsourcers offer customized packages or prefer working for small business enterprises. Look out for these specific outsourcing companies or virtual assistance companies if you run a small business enterprise. 6 ACTIVITIES TO GROW YOUR BUSINESS   Myth #5 – Outsourcing Is Risky Fact #5 – Your Thinking Is Risky   Sometimes it’s your thinking that can be risky and can stop you from taking the right step for your business. You may believe that handling all the functions in-house will save your company from a number of risks. Though this may be true to a marginal degree, there are a number of companies who were responsible for their own downfall due to colossal data exposure and inadequate, in-house security measures in the past. Outsourcing companies on the other hand, have only grown and made their security policies more stringent. Experienced outsourcing providers and virtual assistant companies have always understood the importance of data security and these practices have always been treated with the highest priority. Routine measures such as encrypted data, superior firewalls, stringent work policies and NDA’s are some of the many measures that are given precedence when dealing with clients, sensitive data and their tasks. Outsourcing is an extremely safe practice provided you do your homework and choose the right company to work with.   Myth #6 – Outsourcing And Offshoring Are The Same Fact #6 – No, They Are NOT! You may have noticed that ‘outsourcing’ and ‘offshoring’ are interchangeably used, but they are definitely not the same. Outsourcing involves paying a 3rd party or a virtual assistance company to complete your work for you. Offshoring on the other hand, means relocating or moving your business efforts wholly to another country, instead of just hiring a company to handle key components of your business. Though the differences may seem negligible, there is in fact, a huge difference between the two terminologies.

Debunking Common Outsourcing Myths Read More »

When you consider outsourcing, it means that you ideally want to avoid undertaking peripheral company functions on your own. Outsourcing has long been a strategic business practice and is a way of reorganizing or relocating a part of a company’s functions to a 3rd party, to boost productivity and improve business functions. Despite the numerous benefits that outsourcing can bring to the table, many first-timers or companies remain oblivious to the obvious and prefer handling all functions in-house due to the many myths and misconceptions associated with outsourcing. Through this post, we aim to debunk the 6 most prevalent outsourcing myths and unveil the realities.   Myth #1 – The Main Incentive For Companies To Outsource Are Reduced Costs Fact #1 – Companies Outsource For Other Reasons Than reducing Costs   For a very long time, companies outsourced because they believed that it would help reduce costs. Due to the mismatch in expectations and reality, the motives behind outsourcing has also evolved over time. Reduced costs may be ‘one’ of the incentives to outsource a function but definitely not the main reason anymore. Rather, the quality of the services provided and the quick access to specialist service providers who can complete a job in a much more efficient manner than an in-house employee, have become some of the major impetuses to outsource. Let’s face it. If your company is not very proficient with SEO, chances are that an outsourcing partner that has a specialist team for SEO, can generate quicker results for your company and work more efficiently.   Myth #2 – There Will Be Cultural & Language Disparities Fact #2 – Outsourcing Companies Are Trained To Handle Cross-Cultural Exchange   Apart from being just a myth, cultural and language disparities are also some of the greatest fears for first-time outsourcers. The fear being, that cultural and language barriers can pose obstacles during the process of exchanging vital information. However, it is safe to say that this is just a misconception. Most outsourcing companies hire qualified professionals that are experienced in cross-cultural exchange and are proficient with multiple languages, including English. India, Russia and Philippines are at the top of the league when it comes to deploying professional customer support teams who are both, fluent and familiar with multiple cultures and the English language.   Myth #3 – Clients Have No Control Once The Job Is Outsourced Fact #3 – You Have As Much Control As You Would With An In-House Team! This is one of the most prevalent outsourcing myths and is not as difficult to manage as most companies or people would like to believe. With check-points and methodologies established with the outsourcer, you can offer your suggestions, tested practices, sample frameworks and carry out regular checks on the progress of the job being done once you have outsourced a task. Frequent information-exchange and communication is a necessity and the more you exert control over an outsourcing company, the better your results and your personal virtual assistants‘ efficiency. By providing feedback, you will not only be encouraging your virtual assistant to do better, but you will also be establishing a great working relationship.   Myth #4 – Outsourcing Is For The Big Companies Fact #4 – Small Business Enterprises Have Benefited More With Outsourcing In The Recent Past   No one can take away the fact that large enterprises have made the best use of outsourcing in the past, but let’s not forget the scale on which these big companies outsourced. The decision to outsource nowadays is supported by different reasons for different companies and in the case of start-ups, they are driven to outsource because of the countless benefits. More small businesses are taking to outsourcing today to add value, know-how and experience to their business functions. It is all the more important for small businesses to focus on their core functions and grow their business rather than spend all their valuable time on laborious jobs that can be handled by professionals. An advantage in today’s time and age is that many outsourcers offer customized packages or prefer working for small business enterprises. Look out for these specific outsourcing companies or virtual assistance companies if you run a small business enterprise. 6 ACTIVITIES TO GROW YOUR BUSINESS   Myth #5 – Outsourcing Is Risky Fact #5 – Your Thinking Is Risky   Sometimes it’s your thinking that can be risky and can stop you from taking the right step for your business. You may believe that handling all the functions in-house will save your company from a number of risks. Though this may be true to a marginal degree, there are a number of companies who were responsible for their own downfall due to colossal data exposure and inadequate, in-house security measures in the past. Outsourcing companies on the other hand, have only grown and made their security policies more stringent. Experienced outsourcing providers and virtual assistant companies have always understood the importance of data security and these practices have always been treated with the highest priority. Routine measures such as encrypted data, superior firewalls, stringent work policies and NDA’s are some of the many measures that are given precedence when dealing with clients, sensitive data and their tasks. Outsourcing is an extremely safe practice provided you do your homework and choose the right company to work with.   Myth #6 – Outsourcing And Offshoring Are The Same Fact #6 – No, They Are NOT! You may have noticed that ‘outsourcing’ and ‘offshoring’ are interchangeably used, but they are definitely not the same. Outsourcing involves paying a 3rd party or a virtual assistance company to complete your work for you. Offshoring on the other hand, means relocating or moving your business efforts wholly to another country, instead of just hiring a company to handle key components of your business. Though the differences may seem negligible, there is in fact, a huge difference between the two terminologies.

Six Ways To Use Your Newly-Gained Time Post Outsourcing

So, you decided to take the big step and hired a Virtual Assistant to help you get through life’s challenges. Outsourcing was never your top choice, but you had to, owing to the increasing work pressures, the costs of keeping an in-house assistant and the growing responsibilities you had to shoulder at home. Now you’re glad you hired a VA, but what next? What does one do with the free time and how does one transition into the new life with the newly-gained time, effortlessly? Consider why you chose to outsource in the first place. Either you believed that a professional would do a better job than you would at a particular job, the costs of outsourcing were a lot cheaper than if you were to hire an in-house assistant or also because you realized that your children and wife were beginning to forget what you looked like. With outsourcing, you finally got those laborious tasks out of the way and earned yourself a minimum of 2-4 hours for yourself everyday. There’s so much you can do! If you are unsure of how you can use this time productively, take a look at a few of these suggestions- 1) Read A Book Keep yourself abreast with all the reading that you’ve missed out on all these years. Download an e-book if you’re running out of time or walk to the local bookstore to pick out a book you like. If you are a bookworm, there is no better way to spend your time productively than by reading. Reading can help you de-stress and can transport your mind into another world altogether, whilst also helping you sharpen your mind. 2) Prioritize Your ‘Bucket-List’ Activities 2-4 hours is a lot of time to tick at least one of the activities off your bucket-list everyday. Always wanted to sign up for a dance class? Go paragliding or volunteer at a local NGO? With the time you’ve earned from the outsourcing, you could try your hand at the activities that interest you. Finding a hobby or working on one, can help you put your job and/or life in perspective and can help you develop a new set of skills. It will also give you the chance to expand your networking opportunities and is a breath of fresh air when you feel like you’re on the verge of a total burnout. 3) Build A Better Business Ever heard of the adage, ‘Do what you do best and outsource the rest’? Now that you have outsourced all the back-end work to your Virtual Assistant, you will find more time to focus on the core competencies of your business and set better goals. If you have had to manage all the aspects of the business yourself, you will know that your life was nothing short of a nightmare! With outsourcing however, you will find that you have more time to strategize, de-clutter your mind, reorganize your business and govern its primary activities to help it grow and sustain. 4) A Healthy You, Is A Happy You Exercise well, eat healthy and meditate in your spare time. Rather than sitting at home and lazing around, go for a light jog or a long walk. Doing things that keep you feeling fit, physically or mentally can help you lose the stress you’ve been carrying around on your shoulders and will also give you the time to gather your thoughts. Furthermore, exercising regularly can help you discipline your mind, get your endorphins flowing and make you look and feel better. Need more reasons? 5) Spend Time With The Ones You Love If you live with friends or family, spending your free time with them makes absolute sense. Make some time for your children and spouse. Attend your girl’s ballet performance or your son’s big game. Imagine the joy on their faces when they find that both their parents are in attendance. If you’ve missed out on those dinners with your friends or your partner in the last couple of months, make it a point to catch up with them during your free time and show them that you care and you are not anti-social. There is nothing more relaxing than to surround yourself with the people you love and who love you during your free time. 6) Invest Some Time In Personal Care Once you find that you’ve got a flow going with outsourcing and your VA is handling all the work for you, don’t burden yourself with more work during your free time. Instead, invest this time for some personal care. Whether it is something as small as filing your nails, getting some sleep or hitting the spa, ensure that you make time for your personal needs everyday to shed those layers of stress. Though making money is important to make ends meet in today’s time and age, spending time for yourself can make you look and feel like a million bucks. Life after outsourcing can be rewarding if you choose to make it so. The time you’ve earned is precious and limited. Make use of it productively and you’ll automatically find success and will be able to strike the perfect work-life balance in the process.

Six Ways To Use Your Newly-Gained Time Post Outsourcing Read More »

So, you decided to take the big step and hired a Virtual Assistant to help you get through life’s challenges. Outsourcing was never your top choice, but you had to, owing to the increasing work pressures, the costs of keeping an in-house assistant and the growing responsibilities you had to shoulder at home. Now you’re glad you hired a VA, but what next? What does one do with the free time and how does one transition into the new life with the newly-gained time, effortlessly? Consider why you chose to outsource in the first place. Either you believed that a professional would do a better job than you would at a particular job, the costs of outsourcing were a lot cheaper than if you were to hire an in-house assistant or also because you realized that your children and wife were beginning to forget what you looked like. With outsourcing, you finally got those laborious tasks out of the way and earned yourself a minimum of 2-4 hours for yourself everyday. There’s so much you can do! If you are unsure of how you can use this time productively, take a look at a few of these suggestions- 1) Read A Book Keep yourself abreast with all the reading that you’ve missed out on all these years. Download an e-book if you’re running out of time or walk to the local bookstore to pick out a book you like. If you are a bookworm, there is no better way to spend your time productively than by reading. Reading can help you de-stress and can transport your mind into another world altogether, whilst also helping you sharpen your mind. 2) Prioritize Your ‘Bucket-List’ Activities 2-4 hours is a lot of time to tick at least one of the activities off your bucket-list everyday. Always wanted to sign up for a dance class? Go paragliding or volunteer at a local NGO? With the time you’ve earned from the outsourcing, you could try your hand at the activities that interest you. Finding a hobby or working on one, can help you put your job and/or life in perspective and can help you develop a new set of skills. It will also give you the chance to expand your networking opportunities and is a breath of fresh air when you feel like you’re on the verge of a total burnout. 3) Build A Better Business Ever heard of the adage, ‘Do what you do best and outsource the rest’? Now that you have outsourced all the back-end work to your Virtual Assistant, you will find more time to focus on the core competencies of your business and set better goals. If you have had to manage all the aspects of the business yourself, you will know that your life was nothing short of a nightmare! With outsourcing however, you will find that you have more time to strategize, de-clutter your mind, reorganize your business and govern its primary activities to help it grow and sustain. 4) A Healthy You, Is A Happy You Exercise well, eat healthy and meditate in your spare time. Rather than sitting at home and lazing around, go for a light jog or a long walk. Doing things that keep you feeling fit, physically or mentally can help you lose the stress you’ve been carrying around on your shoulders and will also give you the time to gather your thoughts. Furthermore, exercising regularly can help you discipline your mind, get your endorphins flowing and make you look and feel better. Need more reasons? 5) Spend Time With The Ones You Love If you live with friends or family, spending your free time with them makes absolute sense. Make some time for your children and spouse. Attend your girl’s ballet performance or your son’s big game. Imagine the joy on their faces when they find that both their parents are in attendance. If you’ve missed out on those dinners with your friends or your partner in the last couple of months, make it a point to catch up with them during your free time and show them that you care and you are not anti-social. There is nothing more relaxing than to surround yourself with the people you love and who love you during your free time. 6) Invest Some Time In Personal Care Once you find that you’ve got a flow going with outsourcing and your VA is handling all the work for you, don’t burden yourself with more work during your free time. Instead, invest this time for some personal care. Whether it is something as small as filing your nails, getting some sleep or hitting the spa, ensure that you make time for your personal needs everyday to shed those layers of stress. Though making money is important to make ends meet in today’s time and age, spending time for yourself can make you look and feel like a million bucks. Life after outsourcing can be rewarding if you choose to make it so. The time you’ve earned is precious and limited. Make use of it productively and you’ll automatically find success and will be able to strike the perfect work-life balance in the process.

Save 60 Minutes A Day – ‘Hi, I’m Richard!’

Don’t you wish you had the time to fly back home to be with your wife and kids this holiday season? Don’t you yearn to give your loved ones some of your time? Let’s face it. With so many people working 9-5 jobs everyday and managing whole businesses, it becomes almost impossible to make some time for yourself and also, your loved ones. Giving someone your time is intangible and the most irreplaceable feeling in the world. At GetFriday, we understand that ‘time’ is precious and creating fond memories with loved ones is crucial – one that can even beat the joys of winning a lottery or even bringing home fat pay checks!

Save 60 Minutes A Day – ‘Hi, I’m Richard!’ Read More »

Don’t you wish you had the time to fly back home to be with your wife and kids this holiday season? Don’t you yearn to give your loved ones some of your time? Let’s face it. With so many people working 9-5 jobs everyday and managing whole businesses, it becomes almost impossible to make some time for yourself and also, your loved ones. Giving someone your time is intangible and the most irreplaceable feeling in the world. At GetFriday, we understand that ‘time’ is precious and creating fond memories with loved ones is crucial – one that can even beat the joys of winning a lottery or even bringing home fat pay checks!

GetFriday Celebrated DIWALI With Pomp And Style

November 9, 2015 was the start of another power-packed, exciting week at the GetFriday office and it also happened to be a propitious day, as it welcomed one of India’s feted festivals – Diwali!   A Brief Background Diwali is celebrated across the 28 states of India because it marks the end of the vile, ‘Asura-King’ Ravana (‘Asura’ is a Sanskrit word meaning ‘Evil Soul’) and the glorious homecoming of Ayodhya’s most adored king, Lord Ram (‘Ayodhya’ is a birth place of Hindu Mythological God ‘Ram’). In a turn of unprecedented, hostile events, Lord Ram was banished to the forest for 14 years, where he, along with his brother, Lakshman and Ram’s devoted wife, Sita, spent their lives as hermits in solitude. It wasn’t long before Sita was abducted by the Asura-King. A fierce battle ensued between Ram and Ravana in the kingdom of Lanka (Now known as the country Sri Lanka), and Ram came out victorious, rescuing his wife, defeating the king and returning to his kingdom. This glorious return gave birth to the festival of Diwali and is now, celebrated around the world by Hindu communities. On this auspicious day, houses are decorated with ‘diyas’ (earthen fire lamps), embroidered with colorful floor designs, commonly known as ‘Rangoli’, with communities getting together to burst crackers, eat sweets and indulge in merrymaking. How GetFriday Celebrated ‘Diwali’ When the whole of India was gearing up for this auspicious, colorful festival and offices in Bangalore were festooned in lights, how could GetFriday be far behind? The GetFriday office celebrated the festival in pomp and style. Employees were dressed in their ethnic best on this day and the workstations were bedecked in lights, earthen lamps and floral decorations. The office was buzzing with excited employees walking into office in their new, colorful traditional wear and distributing sweets among each other. Wearing new clothes for Diwali is customary and the women employees of GetFriday engaged in excited banter and displayed their new jewelry sets and saris, among other carousing. The celebrations at GetFriday continued through the day, with a special lunch organized for the employees. This lunch consisted of all the popular delicacies from around India and a whole variety of lip-smacking sweetmeats. As twilight approached, GetFriday witnessed a dynamic “Rangoli-making” competition between the teams present. Each team was given standard pack of powdered colors and the idea was to come up with the most visually appealing, innovative Rangoli design using only those colors and nothing else! Revelry prevailed and every employee who participated in this event made sure that they put their best foot forward to make sure their Rangoli design was the best! The festivities continued well into the night-shift and these teams also competed to earn the coveted spot among the winners of the “Rangoli” competition. All in all, the day was a grand success and every employee who was present in office on this day can only agree that the Diwali celebrations uplifted their spirits and set the tone for the rest of the work week! As GetFriday employees work incessantly through the year, it is festivals such as these that give them a chance to celebrate their hard-work and efforts and offers them a well-deserved break! GetFriday is now gearing up for Thanksgiving and Christmas, with double the fun and festivities! Stay tuned to this festive feed for more fun, GetFriday updates! Cheers!

GetFriday Celebrated DIWALI With Pomp And Style Read More »

November 9, 2015 was the start of another power-packed, exciting week at the GetFriday office and it also happened to be a propitious day, as it welcomed one of India’s feted festivals – Diwali!   A Brief Background Diwali is celebrated across the 28 states of India because it marks the end of the vile, ‘Asura-King’ Ravana (‘Asura’ is a Sanskrit word meaning ‘Evil Soul’) and the glorious homecoming of Ayodhya’s most adored king, Lord Ram (‘Ayodhya’ is a birth place of Hindu Mythological God ‘Ram’). In a turn of unprecedented, hostile events, Lord Ram was banished to the forest for 14 years, where he, along with his brother, Lakshman and Ram’s devoted wife, Sita, spent their lives as hermits in solitude. It wasn’t long before Sita was abducted by the Asura-King. A fierce battle ensued between Ram and Ravana in the kingdom of Lanka (Now known as the country Sri Lanka), and Ram came out victorious, rescuing his wife, defeating the king and returning to his kingdom. This glorious return gave birth to the festival of Diwali and is now, celebrated around the world by Hindu communities. On this auspicious day, houses are decorated with ‘diyas’ (earthen fire lamps), embroidered with colorful floor designs, commonly known as ‘Rangoli’, with communities getting together to burst crackers, eat sweets and indulge in merrymaking. How GetFriday Celebrated ‘Diwali’ When the whole of India was gearing up for this auspicious, colorful festival and offices in Bangalore were festooned in lights, how could GetFriday be far behind? The GetFriday office celebrated the festival in pomp and style. Employees were dressed in their ethnic best on this day and the workstations were bedecked in lights, earthen lamps and floral decorations. The office was buzzing with excited employees walking into office in their new, colorful traditional wear and distributing sweets among each other. Wearing new clothes for Diwali is customary and the women employees of GetFriday engaged in excited banter and displayed their new jewelry sets and saris, among other carousing. The celebrations at GetFriday continued through the day, with a special lunch organized for the employees. This lunch consisted of all the popular delicacies from around India and a whole variety of lip-smacking sweetmeats. As twilight approached, GetFriday witnessed a dynamic “Rangoli-making” competition between the teams present. Each team was given standard pack of powdered colors and the idea was to come up with the most visually appealing, innovative Rangoli design using only those colors and nothing else! Revelry prevailed and every employee who participated in this event made sure that they put their best foot forward to make sure their Rangoli design was the best! The festivities continued well into the night-shift and these teams also competed to earn the coveted spot among the winners of the “Rangoli” competition. All in all, the day was a grand success and every employee who was present in office on this day can only agree that the Diwali celebrations uplifted their spirits and set the tone for the rest of the work week! As GetFriday employees work incessantly through the year, it is festivals such as these that give them a chance to celebrate their hard-work and efforts and offers them a well-deserved break! GetFriday is now gearing up for Thanksgiving and Christmas, with double the fun and festivities! Stay tuned to this festive feed for more fun, GetFriday updates! Cheers!

Understanding When To Outsource

Knowing when to outsource your work for better productivity and control is very important, and it is fairly simple too. You need to watch out for a few tell-tale signs that will give you enough and more reason for you to outsource the work that you don’t necessarily need to do yourself. For instance, you may suddenly feel a swell in work pressures or you might realize that you are spending a lot more time at the work place than you should be. Your regular 9 hour job has now turned into a 13 hour job and to make matters worse, you are spending all your time thinking about work or doing work, including the weekends! That leaves you with no time to focus on your personal life or even, have a life! Sometimes, a recurrent, onerous task, that is handled internally and is draining a company’s resources can be handled better externally and for cheap! Or if you feel that your business is saturating at the peak with no further growth or profits, you could outsource certain functions of your business to virtual assistance providers and see how your business fares. If you have crossed the threshold, then it is probably a wise time to outsource. This blog post highlights 4 instances where you should consider outsourcing! 1. You Are Compromising With Your Work-Life Balance When you start outsourcing your lives, you will be able to strike that perfect balance with your job, children and your family. To make room for things that really matter, you can begin by outsourcing routine jobs that either take too much of time, are too mundane to carry out everyday, or tasks that can easily be handled by someone else.This way, outsourcing will give you the freedom to use your time the way you want to spend it and can finally help you leave for home earlier from work and give you your weekends back. Striking the perfect work-life balance is paramount and when you think you are giving away too much; far more than what you are receiving, that’s where you draw the line and make the decision to ‘outsource’! 2.Your Business Is Stagnating Intermittent outsourcing can work wonders for your business – if you know when to take advantage of it! With outsourcing, your business will be able to grow at a healthy pace, talent and expertise are available at your fingertips and you don’t need to provide for an office space, or a phone or a computer for the person working for you. If you find that your strategies are failing, your employees are not motivated to work because they are overburdened with too many arduous tasks or you aren’t generating the revenue you have been expecting for a while, these are sure-shot signs of your business stagnating. In such a situation, a complete turnaround needs to be made. You need time to understand what has gone wrong with the business and what areas need focus and improvement. If you think you have hit this point in the cycle, it would be a wise-time to outsource works that take up your time. By freeing yourself and your employees of tasks they don’t necessarily have to handle, or delegating onerous work to your Virtual Assistants, you will be able to make some time to re-strategize and re-structure your business before it spirals out of control. 3.You Juggle Multiple Hats At Work Years ago, outsourcing wasn’t very accessible to SME’s. This was a luxury that was once limited only to the Fortune 500s. Today however, it is advisable for small business owners to outsource as much as they can from the get-go, because time is the greatest asset for small businesses. Though cash flow for SMEs are not as sturdy or secure as large businesses, outsourcing the work to cost-effective remote assistant companies might just be feasible and can let SMEs focus on growing their businesses. According to a study conducted by Constant Contact, 56% of small business owners feel like they can never leave their businesses to do anything else and need to be constantly around to save the day. Consider the situation – if small business owners don’t delegate the work to the right persons at the right time, they would have to juggle between different responsibilities, including managerial roles, marketing, accounting, customer support and other administrative aspects of business. To handle so much at the same time, could result in the lack of quality, stress, loss of time to focus on other aspects of life, and the company and can slow down the process of scaling the business considerably. Conversely, by outsourcing specific functions of the business to reliable Virtual Assistants, it is possible to maintain the highest level of operations, in a manner that doesn’t break the bank and your back, and also promote the growth of your business by giving you more to time to cater to existing customer and new ones. At the end of the day, being a small business owner will require you don many hats, but effective outsourcing from the start could help you laser your focus to what really needs to be accomplished and can also give small business owners the benefit of taking periodical breaks to reboot and plan ahead. 4. It Is Expensive To Get Work Done Internally The battle between outsourcing vs. insourcing is incessant. However, when you find that a job can be handled externally for lesser costs, than internally, it would be better to outsource – especially because labor is a lot cheaper overseas and you also get more bang for your buck! Sometimes, in-house employees need time and training to handle specialist tasks. This requires money and can take a number of sessions before an employee is completely adept with the software or the tool. For instance, it could be cheaper for companies to outsource their payroll work to companies like Sage Payroll rather than hire in-house payroll specialists, train them, pay them salaries and

Understanding When To Outsource Read More »

Knowing when to outsource your work for better productivity and control is very important, and it is fairly simple too. You need to watch out for a few tell-tale signs that will give you enough and more reason for you to outsource the work that you don’t necessarily need to do yourself. For instance, you may suddenly feel a swell in work pressures or you might realize that you are spending a lot more time at the work place than you should be. Your regular 9 hour job has now turned into a 13 hour job and to make matters worse, you are spending all your time thinking about work or doing work, including the weekends! That leaves you with no time to focus on your personal life or even, have a life! Sometimes, a recurrent, onerous task, that is handled internally and is draining a company’s resources can be handled better externally and for cheap! Or if you feel that your business is saturating at the peak with no further growth or profits, you could outsource certain functions of your business to virtual assistance providers and see how your business fares. If you have crossed the threshold, then it is probably a wise time to outsource. This blog post highlights 4 instances where you should consider outsourcing! 1. You Are Compromising With Your Work-Life Balance When you start outsourcing your lives, you will be able to strike that perfect balance with your job, children and your family. To make room for things that really matter, you can begin by outsourcing routine jobs that either take too much of time, are too mundane to carry out everyday, or tasks that can easily be handled by someone else.This way, outsourcing will give you the freedom to use your time the way you want to spend it and can finally help you leave for home earlier from work and give you your weekends back. Striking the perfect work-life balance is paramount and when you think you are giving away too much; far more than what you are receiving, that’s where you draw the line and make the decision to ‘outsource’! 2.Your Business Is Stagnating Intermittent outsourcing can work wonders for your business – if you know when to take advantage of it! With outsourcing, your business will be able to grow at a healthy pace, talent and expertise are available at your fingertips and you don’t need to provide for an office space, or a phone or a computer for the person working for you. If you find that your strategies are failing, your employees are not motivated to work because they are overburdened with too many arduous tasks or you aren’t generating the revenue you have been expecting for a while, these are sure-shot signs of your business stagnating. In such a situation, a complete turnaround needs to be made. You need time to understand what has gone wrong with the business and what areas need focus and improvement. If you think you have hit this point in the cycle, it would be a wise-time to outsource works that take up your time. By freeing yourself and your employees of tasks they don’t necessarily have to handle, or delegating onerous work to your Virtual Assistants, you will be able to make some time to re-strategize and re-structure your business before it spirals out of control. 3.You Juggle Multiple Hats At Work Years ago, outsourcing wasn’t very accessible to SME’s. This was a luxury that was once limited only to the Fortune 500s. Today however, it is advisable for small business owners to outsource as much as they can from the get-go, because time is the greatest asset for small businesses. Though cash flow for SMEs are not as sturdy or secure as large businesses, outsourcing the work to cost-effective remote assistant companies might just be feasible and can let SMEs focus on growing their businesses. According to a study conducted by Constant Contact, 56% of small business owners feel like they can never leave their businesses to do anything else and need to be constantly around to save the day. Consider the situation – if small business owners don’t delegate the work to the right persons at the right time, they would have to juggle between different responsibilities, including managerial roles, marketing, accounting, customer support and other administrative aspects of business. To handle so much at the same time, could result in the lack of quality, stress, loss of time to focus on other aspects of life, and the company and can slow down the process of scaling the business considerably. Conversely, by outsourcing specific functions of the business to reliable Virtual Assistants, it is possible to maintain the highest level of operations, in a manner that doesn’t break the bank and your back, and also promote the growth of your business by giving you more to time to cater to existing customer and new ones. At the end of the day, being a small business owner will require you don many hats, but effective outsourcing from the start could help you laser your focus to what really needs to be accomplished and can also give small business owners the benefit of taking periodical breaks to reboot and plan ahead. 4. It Is Expensive To Get Work Done Internally The battle between outsourcing vs. insourcing is incessant. However, when you find that a job can be handled externally for lesser costs, than internally, it would be better to outsource – especially because labor is a lot cheaper overseas and you also get more bang for your buck! Sometimes, in-house employees need time and training to handle specialist tasks. This requires money and can take a number of sessions before an employee is completely adept with the software or the tool. For instance, it could be cheaper for companies to outsource their payroll work to companies like Sage Payroll rather than hire in-house payroll specialists, train them, pay them salaries and