Category Virtual Assistants

Entries 48 Total

Q & A: What are successful cost-cutting solutions in small business?

Oct 18, ’07 11:49 AM
Author Stefan Töpfer (Editor) Categories Finance, Health Check, Home Business, Outsourcing, Sales, Virtual Assistants, Work/Life Balance, be successful, bootstrap, do a SWOT plan, do a reality check, do bookkeeping., do cost cutting, do credit control, find funding, grow your business, lower overheads, outsource effectively, plan cash-flow, plan your business

How long is a string? Let me give you some pointers here, but please remember you can always do more on the cost-cutting front in any small business and start-up business, like SOHO-, SME, SMB-, Micro-, Lifestyle-, Home-, DIY-, Hobby-, Boomer- or Personal business, like professional, contractors, freelancer, self-employed, sole-trader and virtual assistants.

  1. Keep your staffing level low. As much as it may hurt, work longer hours yourself, until extra staff is economically viable.
  2. Outsource all non-core business activities. This will reduce your fix-cost structure, make your small business more flexible and you can react faster to an economic down-turn.
  3. Buy second hand. Do you really need the brand new van? Or computer, or……
  4. Work from home, this will not only cut your cost, but may improve your work-life balance at the same time.
  5. Let your staff work from home. No office cost, hire a room if you need to on an hourly basis.
  6. Use online technology, so you don’t waste time and get distracted.
  7. Focus on your core business and sales. Every distraction costs time and money, sales generates money.
  8. Bootstrapping. Think before you spend a penny, could I borrow, hire or do it online, get creative.
  9. Analyze your fixed cost every month. You will find things you don’t need – trust me you will.
  10. Compare and get new quotes. Even if you need the service or product from your supplier, check others all the time, insurance, telephone, utilities, etc.
  11. Get better payment terms. Ask to pay in 60 or 90 days, or get an early payment discount.
  12. Check your bank charges – you’ll be surprised. Or have it done on a results basis, doesn’t cost you time and gets you money back.
  13. Do credit control – get your money in lower your bank overdraft cost and charges.

This is only a short list of what you can do, but it’s a start. Remember even $100/£50 per month is $1200/£600 a year more in your pocket. ST.

Disclaimer: As with any of my readers questions, I do not have all the answers and here on my blog I can only give you some ideas, since I know very little about your small business. If any of you can add anything here do so for the benefit of my reader, who asked the question and everybody else, leave a comment below – I’d be most grateful.

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Small Business Checklist: Business Process Outsourcing

Oct 18, ’07 10:52 AM
Author Stefan Töpfer (Editor) Categories Business Checklists, How to ..., Outsourcing, Start-Up, Virtual Assistants, Web Technology, Work/Life Balance, bootstrap, do a reality check, do cost cutting, lower overheads, not to do it!, outsource effectively, plan your business, start-up in business, use online IT

As many of you know by know I’m a sucker for bootstrapping for small business and start-up business, like SOHO-, SME, SMB-, Micro-, Lifestyle-, Home-, DIY-, Hobby-, Boomer- or Personal business, like professional, contractors, freelancer, self-employed, sole-trader and virtual assistants, and outsourcing is a big part of my bootstrapping philosophy, so here a re a few pointers:

  1. To outsource, or not to outsource …. . I would always outsource non-critical and non-core business functions, in other words, whatever it is that makes your small business different and unique you do yourself, because that is what earns your money. Anything else could and probably should be outsourced (see: outsourcing options for small business).
  2. Do It Online. This will allow you to stay in close touch with your supplier, and get real time up-dates and feed-back – there are other benefits too.
  3. Don’t abdicate. Outsourcing does not mean to forget these tasks, you just delegate them to someone outside of your company, you are still responsible.
  4. Know who you are dealing with. Not all partners are the same, one virtual assistant is not like the next, the same is true for accountants, bookkeepers and other service providers.
  5. Don’t become a favor. If your future partner says things like: ” I’m not sure if I have time, let me see.” or you new service provider makes you feel, as if they are doing you a favor, don’t deal with them, you need partners and not people you feel guilty calling.
  6. Nobody answers the phone – put the phone down and do not call back. Anybody in this kind of service business should understand what service is all about, not answering the phone shows they don’t – they will leave you high and dry sooner or later.
  7. Get references, if you can. Anybody who has been in business for 12 month or more should be able to give you at least one or two references. Don’t shun new service providers, check their CV, remember you may get a good deal and it is good to be one of the first customers.
  8. Get a back-up. Negotiate a back-up deal if you can, so if your primary provider falls ill, you have a back-up, or divide the work between two or more service providers to begin with.
  9. Pay on time. You want good service, pay on time. You want professional work, pay a decent retainer or hourly rate. If you don’t, you’ll be last on the work and service agenda, that means you business suffers. If you can’t afford the service don’t hire them.
  10. Get at least three quotes and compare them. Just to make sure you don’t get taken to the proverbial cleaners, and to compare service levels. Don’t be afraid to ask for an explanation, if you don’t understand something.

Outsourcing is good for your fix-cost structure, should make you more professional, and help you to concentrate on your core-business. If it becomes a distraction, deal with it immediately, if need be change supplier. ST.

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Q & A: Can You Give Me A Cost Example For A Small Home Office?

Oct 16, ’07 1:10 PM
Author Stefan Töpfer (Editor) Categories Accountants/CPAs, Home Business, How to ..., Question & Answer, Red-Tape, Small Business / SOHO, Start-Up, Virtual Assistants, be successful, start-up in business, use online IT

Running a small business and start-up business, like SOHO-, SMB-, Micro-, Lifestyle-, Home-, DIY-, Hobby-, Boomer- or Personal business, like professional, contractors, freelancer, self-employed, sole-trader and virtual assistants from home, is one of the most cost-effective ways to start a business, so here are some costs I can foresee:

  1. Office Set-Up. You may have a desk and computer and internet already, the kitchen table can often be used for your production work, depending what you do, it may be the garage. If you do not have desk, computer, buy some second hand stuff, look in the local paper, ebay or other auction sites, to find what you need cheap. I estimate $1,000 / £500 for that one off, if you don’t have the office equipment.
  2. Telephone & Fax. Get a second telephone line, get your faxes via email and get someone to answer your telephone. Use a virtual assitant, I hate small businesses who do not answer their telephones, it’s one of the biggest business turn-off’s. Estimated set-up cost $100 / £ 50, monthly cost about $60 / £ 30 per month.
  3. Online Presence and E-Commerce. I am a little biased here – use our OnlineOffice and get your web-site – for customer information, e-shop – for selling online, online blog – for marketing and PR, online file-store – to keep you data safe, accounting software – to work with your accountant online in real time, and be able to outsource and work with virtual assistants, to save time, money and make yourself look professional. This all includes free 24/7 live support. Per month $20 / £10.
  4. Accountant and Bookkeeper. Important, to get an accountant as early as possible, to plan your cash-flow talk about special rules that apply for taxation, insurance and other red-tape. One of you most important business partners if you get your choice right. Estimate on average $100 / £50 per month, the initial consultation should be free.
  5. Bootstrapping. Do not spend any money on flyers and other printed material, don’t spend any money on any marketing until you can afford it and you know you will get a result – because it’s all free on the internet.

So you are looking at a professionally run home-office with telephone and accountant back-up for a total set-up cost of around $ 1,100 / £550 and a monthly average cost of $180 / £90. You may need some insurance, depending where and what you do?

This is the cost for running your small business from home, your accountant can talk to you about tax-breakes for working from home too. ST

Disclaimer: As with any of my readers questions, I do not have all the answers and this is not business advice, since I only know very little about your business. If any of you can add anything here do so for the benefit of my reader, who asked the question and everybody else, leave a comment below – I thank you for your effort.

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Q & A: Borrow Money To Grow Your Small Business Or Not?

Oct 15, ’07 7:15 PM
Author Stefan Töpfer (Editor) Categories How to ..., Outsourcing, Question & Answer, Virtual Assistants, bootstrap, grow your business, outsource effectively, plan cash-flow, plan your business

The answer to this question is not always easy, since for a manufacturing business it may be necessary for you to borrow, if that is the case you need to see an accountant you can trust, to help you to get the best deal and talk about the implications, like personal guarantees, liabilities and so on.

If however, you are in the service sector you should try and stay away from borrowing money as long as you can and bootstrap. Here are some things you can do:

  • Work from Home, do not get an office.
  • Work part-time in your business, keep your job until the business starts earning money on a regular basis to support you.
  • Start with sales, it gets you money and you can find out if someone wants to buy your product. If someone put up the money to buy your product or at least sign an order, that is a good sign. Don’t trust praise, most people don’t want to hurt your feelings.
  • Do some business planning, and see when your business would break even, get the tools free, so no excuses.
  • Outsource all non-core business processes from day one, don’t hire someone just to answer your phone, find Virtual Assistants to do that and other admin stuff, they know how to do it and that makes you look good.

Have a look at some of my categories, like bootstrap, How to grow your business, and others to get some more ideas. ST.

Disclaimer: As with any of my readers questions, I do not have all the answers and this is not business advice, since I only know very little about your business. If any of you can add anything here do so for the benefit of my reader, who asked the question and everybody else, leave a comment below – I thank you for your effort.

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Q & A: How much do you get paid as a Virtual Assistant?

Oct 14, ’07 8:07 AM
Author Stefan Töpfer (Editor) Categories How to ..., Outsourcing, Question & Answer, Start-Up, Virtual Assistants, outsource effectively, start-up in business

I may not be the best person to answer this question, but I can give you some pointers.

It appears to me that it would depend on a few factors:

  • What type of work are you offering? If you do bookkeeping you may get more, if you just answer the telephone you may get less.
  • How much experience have you had in your field? You can ask for more money with more experience.
  • What arrangement do you have? If you work on a retainer basis, your hourly rate may be lower, if you work on a project basis higher.
  • What is your local competition like? Call around find out how much others charge for the same work, then make up your mind, maybe you are worth more?

I guess the best advice I can give you here is to get in touch with a Virtual Assistant organisation, maybe join them and benefit from their experience. You can also get in touch with my friend Kathie Thomas, she will have all the answers you need, especially if you live in Australia.

Don’t forget to register yourself on our free business networking community and market place LiveNet. ST.

Disclaimer: As with any of my readers questions, I do not have all the answers and this is not business advice, since I only know very little about your business. If any of you can add anything here do so for the benefit of my reader, who asked the question and everybody else, leave a comment below – thank you.

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Cynicism rules, tell them what's in it for you.

Oct 11, ’07 6:30 AM
Author Stefan Töpfer (Editor) Categories Office - IT, Outsourcing, Small Business / SOHO, Virtual Assistants, lower overheads, outsource effectively, use online IT

As my readers will know we launched our new OnlineOffice with LiveNet a few day ago. LiveNet is in beta and I would like to get as many virtual assistants to sign up to it as soon as possible. The reason being that my small business clients should outsource as much as possible to make their businesses more efficient or recession proof. So we have a massive need for VAs on our LiveNet.

Signing up and offering your services if free of charge forever – no strings attached.

So I posted a question on LinkedIn yesterday, to see if I could get in touch with people who use VA’s and can recommend their VA. Reason being, if people recommend someone it is kind of a reference and that can only be good for my clients.

Message number four read like this:

He’s not looking for help he’s trying to sell his software

At first I was quite angry, how could she say that? She had obviously not read my website and had made a snap decision to “flame” me.

But then I checked and realised we could have made the “free”-bit a little more obvious, and I had not explained myself in my question well enough, so there are a few lessons to be learned here:

  • Tell people what is in it for you, because if they don’t understand where you are coming from, otherwise cynicism rules.
  • Don’t expect people to read your web site as they may not – make your offers clear.

There is a great book about web-design by Steve Krug, about the common sense approach to web usability called “Don’t make me think“. It is a great read and I’ll have to look at it again, I guess. ST.

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Virtual Assistants Round Up At Katie's

Oct 10, ’07 8:24 AM
Author Stefan Töpfer (Editor) Categories Outsourcing, Small Business / SOHO, Virtual Assistants, outsource effectively, use online IT

Most of my regular reader know I am all for outsourcing for small business and start-up business, like SOHO-, SME, SMB-, Micro-, Lifestyle-, Home-, DIY-, Hobby-, Boomer- or Personal business, like professional, contractors, freelancer, self-employed, sole-trader and virtual assistants, from day one.

You will also know I love the virtual assistants services, as they allow you to concentrate on the core issues of our business, while outsourcing admin, IT and other functions – timesharing professionals is what I call it. You know what I mean it makes your small business professional – I hate it if nobody answers a phone for instance, it’s a big turn-off for business.

Some of you will also remember Kathie Thomas – one of my guest bloggers, VA, speaker – and she is hosting “Blog Carnival of Virtual Assistants“, you should go and have a look. It may give you some ideas for your own small business.

If you are a VA, you should consider putting your details on LiveNet, so my clients will can have the benefit of your services too. ST.

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Been saying it for years……

Aug 29, ’07 2:09 PM
Author Stefan Töpfer (Editor) Categories Comments, Contractor, DIY Business, Entrepreneur, Freelancer, Generation-Y, Home Business, Lifestyle, MumEntrepreneur, Personal Business, SOHO/SMB/SME/Micro, Self-employed, Small Business / SOHO, Social Entrepreneur, Sole-Trader, Start-Up, Virtual Assistants, start-up in business

It seems finally people are waking up to the fact that small business and start-up business, like SOHO-, SME, SMB-, Micro-, Lifestyle-, Home-, DIY-, Hobby-, Boomer-, Professional-, Personal business wants to stay small. Small Biz Labs reports:

According to this month’s Discover Small Business Watch (a survey of small business owners with 5 or fewer employees) “69 percent of small business owners said that they prefer to have their business remain small.”

I’m still somewhat surprised it took most people that long to finally understand that it is perfectly OK to want to stay small. Question is why nobody ( apart from WinWeb) is really catering for these types of small business and personal business, like contractors, freelancer, self-employed, sole-trader and virtual assistants.

What really gets me going is when these types of small businesses get told ” It’s just like having a home job!” – dream on.

Running a business from home can be one of the most liberating and fulfilling things you have ever done in your life.

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Small Business Infrastructure For Business Start-Up.

Aug 28, ’07 12:42 PM
Author Stefan Töpfer (Editor) Categories Accountants/CPAs, Accounting, Business Ideas, Contractor, DIY Business, Data Security, Development, E-Commerce, Employment, Entrepreneur, Exporting, Finance, Franchise, Freelancer, Generation-Y, Globalization 3.0, Green/Eco-Friendly, Health Check, Home Business, How to ..., Infrastructure, Infrastructure, Lifestyle, Marketing/PR, Mobile Technology, MumEntrepreneur, Office - IT, Outsourcing, Personal Business, Red-Tape, Relationships, SOHO/SMB/SME/Micro, Sales, Self-employed, Small Business / SOHO, Social Entrepreneur, Software as a Service, Sole-Trader, Start-Up, Suppliers, Virtual Assistants, Web Technology, WinWeb, WinWeb Live™, Work/Life Balance, avoid growing pain, be eco-friendly, be successful, bootstrap, choose your office, deal with taxes, do a SWOT plan, do a reality check, do bookkeeping., do cost cutting, do credit control, export, find funding, grow your business, handle problems, keep data safe, lower overheads, market and sell, motivate your staff, outsource effectively, plan cash-flow, plan your business, start-up in business, use online IT

I get regular questions about what we really mean by WinWeb’s Small Business Infrastructure?

On-demand Small Business Infrastructure™ centers around the idea that business start-ups and growing small businesses need help with numerous administrative tasks that are not core to the business success – such as bookkeeping, it services, internet services, call handling and other such services.

These services – if performed by the business owner – cause a great deal of time wasting – while the fixed cost of a business is still accumulating. This is in our minds a fatally floored business model and can easily be remedied with our infrastructure approach.

We should not expect business start-ups and small business in general to be accountants, bookkeepers, lawyers, marketing & PR gurus and so on. We should provide small business with an infrastructure in which it can concentrate on core business tasks, while at the same time enabling the business owner to stay informed of all relevant business facts like cash flow, sales, HR issues, tax position and more. This will enable him / her to make informed decisions, maybe with the help of an external advisor.

Based on these facts, we have devised a six point on-demand Small Business Infrastructure™ concept, which consist of:

1. WinWeb On-Demand Software Solutions – Anywhere At Anytime.

AccountsOffice and OnlineOffice are our two software offerings, which are based on the SaaS – Software as a Services model, to allow for the following key business benefits:

• tight inclusion of business advisors from the start,
• cultivating outsourcing techniques at the outset, i.e. virtual assistants,
• no IT knowledge needed and hassle free operation,
• real-time multi-user access from anywhere, increasing mobility.

2. WinWeb 24/7 Live Support – We Are Here For You Always.

Providing customer care and support only during business hours is not acceptable to our clients. Experience has shown us that most admin work gets done by small business before nine in the morning or after five in the evening. This practice is essential if the business is to survive it’s early years.

This is why we have provided our much acclaimed customer support for 24 hours a day, seven days a week from the outset. Saving our clients wasted time and money – while setting new standards in customer support. No manuals need to be read – all problems can be solved in real-time online.

3. WinWeb Live – Networking Community for Small Business Only.

To foster collaboration and outsourcing we have expanded our WinWeb Live™ offering to allow for small business community networking – thus enabling the business owner to make decisions about his / her current needs, with the following benefits:

• timeshare virtual assistants for professional results,
• offer contracts of work to contractors on a case-by-case basis,
• promote the business to a large audience or even locally,
• find new work and contracts online

4. Business Advice

Our On-Demand Small Business Infrastructure™ enables business advisors, accountants, bookkeepers and other advisors to have a “Up Close and Personal” relationship with the small business owner, providing key elements for the success of a small business:

• timely and up-to-date advice from anywhere at anytime,
• more efficient advisor function due to SaaS technology, less travel,
• easily expandable advisor network.

5. Solution Partners

Third parties provide external services to complement our services, such as parcel service, office supply services, printing services. These and other services are provided on a bulk buy arrangements by leading businesses in their respective sectors – to provide the most reliable and up-to date service possible – with the effect of enhancing the professional appearance of our clients.

6. ClimateByte™ Technology – For A Cleaner Future.

Our clients are among the biggest demographics concerned with climate change and carbon footprint neutrality. It is a fact that employing remote working and collaboration techniques drastically reduces the damaging business side affects on our environment. We enable our clients to be more eco-friendly and aware, by providing them with our green technology – an ongoing development commitment of WinWeb.

WinWeb welcomes any suggestion that will further enhance our On-Demand Small Business Infrastructure™ concept – especially the development of even more eco-friendly business processes – to serve our small business and business start-up client-base.

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If You Work All Day, You Have No Time To Make Any Money!

Aug 25, ’07 10:23 AM
Author Stefan Töpfer (Editor) Categories Boomer Business, Comments, Contractor, DIY Business, Development, Entrepreneur, Freelancer, Generation-Y, Home Business, Lifestyle, MumEntrepreneur, Personal Business, Relationships, SOHO/SMB/SME/Micro, Self-employed, Small Business / SOHO, Social Entrepreneur, Sole-Trader, Start-Up, Virtual Assistants, Work/Life Balance, do a reality check, plan your business, start-up in business

It is Saturday, weekend – here in the UK a long weekend as we have public or bank holiday on Monday – for me always a time to reflect on the week gone by and of the weeks ahead. For many small business owners it’s time to work and catch up with admin or other work, but ask yourself this, “Is this what I wanted from my small business?” Or did you want to be with your family, have some time off – have a life?

This morning I was reminded of a gentleman I met almost thirty years ago while working in the US, he was from Florida and extremely wealthy. He had made all his money in nylon-stockings after the second world war. I was still looking for my first break to make my mark and money, so I asked him how he made it to become so wealthy. His answer was:

Remember always, if you work all day, then you have no time to make any money, you are too busy.

As you can well imagine, here I was, about 20 years old and this guy came out with a statement like this, I thought he was completely mad and insane. Unfortunately I was stupid enough not to ask him what he means – otherwise I would have learned one of the most important business success lessons of my business live very early on.

He was absolutely right of course, you may very well already know that. He was talking about having time to have a vision and dream, think about your small business and not about your products, standing back and getting out of the proverbial forrest, so the trees are not in the way.

So why not use this weekend, stop working and do some dreaming about what could be – nurture your vision for your small business and see where it takes you. Vision is one of the most important ingredient for small business success.

Take the time to make money – stop being so busy. But now you have to excuse me ……. Have a great weekend!

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