Startup Toolbox

Posts Tagged ‘outsourcing’

It’s Friday afternoon and you’re just wrapping up the finishing touches on the last batch of widgets. You look at the clock on the wall and think, “Whew, I made it through another week.” Then it hits you. You have checks that need to be deposited, the week’s invoices still need to be sent out and you promised Mrs. Chalmers and Mr. Dobson that they’d both have their deliveries on Monday. As all that sinks in, you scramble around the recesses of your mind to remember what time the last Fed-ex drop is so that you can keep your promises to your clients and have their product to them on Monday. So much for having the possibility of a weekend.

Sound familiar?

As your business grows, you will inevitably have times when there is more work to do than one person can manage. So, what’s an entrepreneur to do? You could always hire another person, but you should weigh that option carefully. Adding to staff creates more than just an added salary. There is the additional overhead that encompasses another body in your office space and unless you’re consistently overwhelmed, hiring another body as a “just in case” for the peak periods means you may be paying someone to sit around during the non-busy times. Alternatively, outsourcing may be a good fit for your needs.

Outsourcing has gotten kind of a black eye in the past few years as more and more big businesses are shipping jobs out of the country. However, when it comes to tailor made help for a small business’ needs, outsourcing can be your best friend.

When you’re first starting out, doing everything yourself is often the best way to do things. It helps keep overhead low and you can dip your fingers into the beginnings of every role in your company and set the processes in place just the way you want them. You can “try on” different solutions and quickly figure out what works and what doesn’t. If you’re thinking ahead, you can also use the hands on experience in the beginning to help you decide which functions you will be able to delegate to someone else and in what order you want to peel those duties away from your core activities, the things you love that drew you into business in the first place.

In the not so distant past, telecommuting was a young business model and technology was growing exponentially to keep up with the demand for newer, faster, more reliable ways to keep in touch and work efficiently. Consequently, in today’s business environment, working across the world is almost as convenient as working across the hall. There has also been a surge of experts and professionals who have opened up their own shops making quality assistance more accessible than ever for small business people – from bookkeeping, to billing, to engineering, to warehousing/shipping/transportation to payroll and HR services to IT services to administrative support – there are thousands of quality companies available to help meet your needs.

The key to a successful collaboration with any company you outsource to is clear communication. Know exactly what duties you want to turn over. Talk to a few different companies to see which would be the best fit for you. Also, just as you would with a potential employee, talk to other companies that use their services. Reputable resources should be happy to turn over references. Many companies will offer packages in varying levels that empower you to decide what level of service you need right now. As your needs grow, you can upgrade your level of service incrementally with that company which is a great way to manage your costs.

Delegate, don’t abdicate! As small business people, we’re often so relieved to not have to deal with the parts of the business we didn’t enjoy that we tend to turn over the tasks and forget about them. You can’t just call across the office to check on a project so make sure you maintain the communication and create clear deliverables and deadlines. You may not be performing the details of the tasks anymore, but they still contribute to YOUR business.

The options for outsourcing are only going to grow in the current economy as more and more professionals find themselves transitioned out of their corporate jobs. Many of those professionals, unable to find a suitable opening often choose to start their own venture. By opting to do business with outsource companies, you not only get a level of experience you’d be unlikely to get for the same price in an employee, but you foster a stronger economy and a stronger foundation for your own company.

Happy entrepreneuring!

Katherine

© Yanwe

Fax machine? We don’t need no stinkin’ fax machine!

I’ve never been a fan of fax machines. It seems like their only consistent feature is jamming. And a new machine only meant jamming in more creative ways. I needed to get my home office set up; I knew that a fax was a necessary evil but I kept putting it off. I was less than thrilled at the prospect but I finally waded into the logistics of set-up. Little did I know that I had options – gotta love options!

When I transitioned into working at home, one of the issues I needed to look at was faxing. I have an all in one machine that has faxing capability but I wasn’t keen on having to toggle back and forth between phone and fax on a land line. I’ve had to do that before and it never worked well. I certainly didn’t want to have the added expense of installing a second line dedicated to the fax. I mean, when you’re just starting out every penny counts, right?!

I was talking about it with a brilliant friend of mine who asked, “Have you ever thought about a web based fax service? That’s what I use and it’s great!”

This woman is a financial genius, and when smart people talk, I try to listen.  I was more than a little skeptical, though. I had heard of efaxing before, but what I’d heard was that it was unreliable with faxes often ending up somewhere in the nether regions of cyber space instead of where you sent them. Also, that the file formats were greatly limited and needed a lot of storage space.

As soon as I got home, I fired up the trusty computer and started researching. Come to find out, efaxing has come a long way baby! Web based fax services are more reliable than ever. The more I read, the more I was persuaded.

• No paper and toner needed, saves trees, good for the environment. Like that. 
• Many allow you to choose your desired file format and include PDFs which is space efficient. Like that.
• Many have reporting functionality if you need to track the metrics of your faxing activity. Probably won’t use it, but like that.
• No phone line needed/monthly service fee is less expensive than having a dedicated line. Love that.
• No long distance charges. Love that.
• Was able to choose a fax # that closely correlated to my business #. Love that.
• Increased privacy; I always hated it when proprietary faxes were left sitting on the machine for anyone to read. Love that.
• NO MORE JAMS!! – LOVE that!

There are a several sites that break down the various services including price and a whole lot of technical stuff that makes my eyes glaze over. I’m listing two, because between them, they cover most of the services available:

http://faxing-service-review.toptenreviews.com/
http://www.faxcompare.com/

I personally use RapidFax and Metro Fax, one for a client and one for my business. I went with different companies just to avoid confusion. My personal experience has been good with both. I’ve had them for over a year and have only had one small glitch with RapidFax. They never figured out what happened, but instead of faxing all of the pages, only one went through. Luckily, I caught it and was able to re-send. It only happened once and I have sent hundreds of faxes. I just try to be diligent about checking the confirmation email to make sure all the pages went through. I also set up a web based email account for the fax # so that my Inbox didn’t get slogged with faxes. The services vary on how long they retain faxes on their server, but the incoming faxes and confirmation emails stay on the dedicated email account as long as I want to leave them there. I save some onto my computer, but most just stay on the email’s storage system. This also reduces my storage space requirements.

The days of the clunky fax machine taking up precious counter space are all but over. If you’re searching for ways to free up counter space, reduce costs, help the environment, or just plain don’t like fax machines, web based faxing may be a good fit for you. There are several services with many different options so there is sure to be one that meets your needs. If you’re still not sure, try a few on! Many of the services offer free trials.

Happy entrepreneuring!

Katherine

© Yanwe