Category Outsourcing

Entries 47 Total

Q & A: What is a Virtual Credit Controller?

Oct 25, ’07 7:36 AM

Needless to say that credit control is one of the most important functions 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, it affects your cash-flow and keeps your small business a float.This could be a professional company which specializes in credit control all the way to court action, this service is usually used for bad debt or difficult customers. The service can be quite pricey and you may have problems getting them to deal with only a few invoices per month.Another option is to use a virtual assistant in your area and give him/her the list of open invoices or just copies of them and have the virtual assistant follow up on your clients.

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How to start a Virtual Assistant Business?

Oct 20, ’07 8:46 AM

Characteristics wise, most clients ask for virtual assistants who are sharp, can take initiative, and who will help further the client’s business.... I would add, to use online technology, with all it's benefits for you, it also makes it much easier to become an integral part of the clients team.She also talks about marketing, there are many places you can find contacts and network, like LinkedIn, LiveNet, and others.

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

Oct 18, ’07 11:49 AM

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.... Or have it done on a results basis, doesn't cost you time and gets you money back.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.

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Small Business Checklist: Business Process Outsourcing

Oct 18, ’07 10:52 AM

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: To outsource, or not to outsource ....... 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.Nobody answers the phone - put the phone down and do not call back.

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

Oct 15, ’07 7:15 PM

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.... 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.

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

Oct 14, ’07 8:07 AM

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.As always with questions, I do not have all the answers, so please if you can add anything here do so for the benefit of the person who asked the question and everybody else, leave a comment below.

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Bookkeeping for Small Business

Oct 12, ’07 6:33 AM

More important than that, you will learn new things about your business: You may have higher (good) or lower (bad) sales, than you expected?Your cost in your business may be higher (bad) or lower (better) than you expected?Your cash-flow may be better or worse do to the above two points?You may need to outsource some business processes to lower your fixed cost structure, to make your business more recession proof or just more profitable?You may need to ramp up your sales and marketing activities for your small business products or services?You may also have to adjust your SWOT analysis and your business goals?You will be surprised how creative you can be, once you know about and understand a problem in your business plan.... There is no excuse not to do it, all the tools are available for free, for anyone.If you feel the initial process of business planning is too much for you, than get your accountant or bookkeeper to help you to set your cash-flow fore-casting, SWOT analysis with you, doing it online will give you strategic advantages, like you can work with your accountant or bookkeeper in real time in different places, this lowers your cost, no time wasted and is good for the environment.I would like to make one more point here, the aim of all this planning is not to get it spot on - no, the aim is to understand what is happening in your business, that is why you should be doing it.

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

Oct 11, ’07 6:30 AM

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 softwareAt first I was quite angry, how could she say that?... 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.

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Virtual Assistants Round Up At Katie’s

Oct 10, ’07 8:24 AM

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. 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.

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SMEs fail on the Globelization Hurdle

Oct 10, ’07 6:05 AM

This figure is surprisingly low given the increasing ease of importing and exporting in today's economy."These numbers do not surprise me at all, in survey we did in 2004 we found that hurdles have been considerable: 36% finding local partners;21% understanding local markets;16% Financing export activities;11% defining local customer profile;11% language barriers;5% other.You can read more about our findings here.... Even very 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, will find it less difficult to export their services, using services like LiveNet.

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