How to afford How to afford

outsourcingoutsourcing as as a small businessa small business

Prepared By:

Background on Outsourcing

•Outsourcing is a business practice where you hire outside contractors to help with a function or project.

•Contractors are not considered employees; they are either independent freelancers or another business that has been given a paid contract to deliver a product for set period of time.

• Outsourcing is not reserved for companies with large budgets.

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•Analyze your core mission. • This should be identified in your business plan.

•Make sure your current employees are covering strategic parts of your company's plan

• You can then look to outsource the things that are not vital for day to day business operations.

Planning Affordable Outsourcing

2013 IO Marketing – Proprietary and Confidential

2013 IO Marketing – Proprietary and Confidential

Call a meeting or do performance where you ask your staff what other skills they have that are not currently being used.• For example, someone you have hired as a sales

associate may also be adept at social media marketing, so you can appoint them to do one hour of it per day

Analyze your staff's abilities before making plans to outsource.

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Determine What Can Be Outsourced

Common ways that small businesses outsource are:

1. Customer service/help desk 2.IT3. Online/print marketing4. Graphic design5. Public relations6.Database management7. Brokers8. Accountants9. Website hosting10. Legal services 11.Virtual assistants

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How much can you save?

•Calculate, according to hourly wage, the money spent doing projects that could be outsourced.• Separate the amount of time and money according to project, to see what company money and time could be better spent elsewhere.

•These are "lost" hours that are rarely calculated. Choose a value for your time, as well as your employees' time.•Doing a job for hours that you are not proficient at may be costing you hundreds or thousands of dollars each week.

• If your time can be better spent increasing sales, business contracts or more, then you can identify ways that you can save money by outsourcing.

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Create an outsourcing budget

This can be money that is not being used in current projects, leftover project money and/or the sum total of money that can be saved if you and your current employees are free to help customers or actively increase sales or services.

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Starting Affordable Outsourcing

Start by outsourcing one project at a time.Assign an hourly or project cost according to your budget. Find contractors for your projectKeep tabs on performance and hidden costsMake sure training is included in the delivery of the final productEvaluate the success of the project.

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Start by outsourcing one project at a time

•It is important not to do all your projects at once, because it will be chaotic for the company and you are paying all your variable costs at once.

•Assigning one person to lead the outsourced project and doing things slowly will result in fewer mistakes and risks.

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Assign an hourly or project cost according to your budget

The person who leads the project should be aware of the cost when choosing a contractor. Keep aside a portion of the overall budget for employee training and materials, if necessary.

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Find contractors for your project

There are an increasing number of contractors or freelancers in the workforce today, so the rule of supply and demand is on the small business' side.

Many people work from home, so they have fewer overhead costs and can charge affordable prices.

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Keep tabs on performance and hidden costs

•Have your project leader communicate regularly about progress by email, Skype, phone and/or in person.

• In most cases, they will be happy to work with you and adjust their schedules if there are problems.

•Advocate an on-time delivery of the contract. If the contractor is providing a product, such as a website, press release, or brand, make sure you stick to a schedule.

• Allowing a contractor to operate without a time limit is a costly mistake.

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Evaluate the success of the project.

•Launch your next freelance project after the last one is completed.

•Once you have the process in place, you can begin scheduling freelance projects on a yearly timeline, according to what your business can afford.