If you own a small business, you understand how difficult it can be to find dependable (and affordable) employees.
If you’re like myself, you operate more like a one man (or one woman) show and do a “little bit of everything”, including customer service, shipping, bookkeeping, marketing, management, and everything in between.
While you’re busy doing these day-to-day type tasks, you just don’t have the time to work on the most important tasks…i.e. marketing your business.
Wouldn’t it be nice if you could offload your most time-consuming tasks, either on a one-time or ongoing basis, to someone for $ 1 to $ 4 an hour?
Well, the good news is that you CAN, although maybe not in the same way as you would expect. Typically, you would advertise for the job in your local newspaper classifieds or ask your friends and collegues if they knew anyone that was looking for that type of job.
There are several problems with this method:
#1 – You are typically constrained by the employee pool/talent in your LOCAL market #2 – You will need to pay at least the minimum wage (currently ~ $ 7.25 per hour) #3 – You typically will need to hire the person(s) on a full or part time basis #4 – You will probably need to provide the person with an office to work in, desk, computer, internet connection, phone, and not to mention, paying all the other misc expenses/taxes related to hiring an employee
The good news is that there is an answer! And that answer is…. Outsourcing.
There are several, very specific places where you can go to find talented, hard-working people to do any and all tasks related to running your business. In addition, you can employees that are located outside the United States or Europe where you can pay as little as $ 1 to $ 4 per hour, depending on the skills that you need.
In addition, not only can you find people to help you with ongoing tasks, but you can also find people to help you with very specific, one-time projects that require skills that you might not even have access to in your local area.
Think about the possibilities!
Kyle Grant runs OutsourcingUniversity.com where he offers free “how to” training on how small business outsourcing services can used by entrepreneurs just like you to grow your business’ sales and profits Today, while at the same time, offloading time-intensive tasks to deeply-skilled, dependable, and very inexpensive outside providers…
If you’re considering starting a small business and are just waiting for the recent economy to get back on track, there is no better opportunity to start then right now.
One of the first essential steps is to identify your core skills and work from your strengths. Another alternative is to partner with someone who has the skills that you’re currently lacking. This synergistic relationship creates a space of creativity and accountability towards a common goal. The best way to determine what your natural skills are is to ask friends and family what they think you are good at.
There’re also additional resources to support you in this discovery process, a book titled strengthfinder 2.0 and online strength assessment tools are some examples.
Make a list of all the things people normally call you for advise. If you find that most people you know are always contacting you about fixing a window, painting a house, repairing a stair case that would be a good sign on what things you could consider for your business. If the people you know are asking you on how to change the oil of their car, why their car doesn’t start or why it makes a strange sound when they turn the wheel perhaps starting a small business in the auto industry would yield positive results.
Also consider what things you’re naturally good at, that with additional training you could develop them to improve the quality of your work. In the previous example if you are naturally good at automobile services, look into your city college and identify what courses you could take to improve those skills.
Take some time to explore in the past six months what hobbies or activities have you engaged in? What clubs do you currently belong to? By thinking in terms of things you have already done it makes the discovery process simpler by eliminating those things you would like to do from the things you naturally do well.
By starting a business from your natural talents you will not only cut your learning curve in half but you will also create a business that you enjoy doing, and that makes all the difference. By focusing on your weakness it creates a place for doubt, uncertainties, and make the journey a lot more fearful rather then a smooth fun enjoyable process.
Focus on your strengths the rest will follow.
Orlando Piedrahita writes articles about starting a small business by focusing on natural strengths and talents also be sure to read this four steps to starting a small business guide.