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Scale Your Business Through Outsourcing.Thank you, everyone for attending Scale Your Business Through Outsourcing. I am Tammy Durden and I hope that all of you attending because your businesses are growing, or this is part of your strategy to on the outside to design your business. So, Scale Your Business Through Outsourcing, we will discuss a few different topics. Actually several. We will go over what is outsourcing? What types of services are usually outsourced? Why should I consider building a team or outsourcing? How do I know if I am ready to outsource? And, just a little interesting thought here is that 70% of all businesses all over the world that outside as positive about their outsourcing company. I thought you might find that interesting today. The other topics we will discuss our how do I decide what to outsource . How do I grow from here? How do I find someone to outsource my needs? And what does outsourcing cost, which is probably the top of your mind. And what processes and systems in shy put in place? We should be rather busy and have a lot to discuss. One thing off the bat, I want to discuss what is outsourcing. A little bit couple definition. I certainly noted is, wanted to see exactly what Webster's dictionary says. It says to procure something such as goods or services needed by business or organization from outside sources and especially from foreign or nonunion suppliers. The contract work, jobs, etc. being done. In essence, to decide to outsource some back office operations. That is probably what most of you are here for. What is outsourcing? Outsourcing involves the contracting out of business processes to third parties, usually in order for the business to avoid certain costs, such as taxes. I found that it also for many other reasons. But there is a global market to the outsources and it just shows you in the billions of dollars. This is not a new concept. Outsourcing has been happening for quite a while. In the U.S. and around the world. What types of services can you outsource? Well, you can certainly outsource administrative , and there's going to be probably some mentions here that you have not even really thought of. But CRM maintenance and upkeep. Email management, I don't know about you, but I certainly, my inbox is not always at 0. Digital marketing such as email marketing, social media management, group community management, social media ads, blog writing and SCO focus. SCO . You can have an online business manager. Which is often referred to as a OBM and we will talk about that later. You can also outsource processes and systems specialist. There are tech specials the focus on software programs, website issues, and marketing software. There is online event management and search engine optimization. Podcasting management, project management, website design, website management, coping, graphic design, and the list goes on and on. Just about anything you can outsource today. Now, why should you consider outsourcing? Reasons for outsourcing, I thought this was an interesting graph, but it is a cost-cutting tool, rather than hiring in-house. It enables you to focus on your core business. The reason he went into business, many outsource, because they are entrepreneurs, and they get too busy and can no longer focus on the thing that they started to do in business. So they realize that they need some help there. It solves capacity issues. It enhances service quality, because when you are too busy, you can really cannot be customer centric or focused as much. For each individual customer or client. It is critical to business needs. It accesses international -- intellectual capital. For the things you're not very good at doing, sometimes it helps to have someone else do that. Manages your business environment and drives broader transformational change for your business. Now, if you are like most business owners, and I raise my hand here as well because I am like this as well, you never have enough time. We're going to rent to these quickly because were going to talk about the more in-depth. You are doing to me tasks that you do not enjoy. You are continually finding yourself multitasking. You are trying to complete tasks that you're simply not good at doing. Or you are not familiar enough with social media. You have trouble letting go. Or maybe you are faking being tech savvy. So, most business owners, and I can relate, they just never have enough time. Your day seems to run out long before your work does. How many of you sit in bed and are working late at night? Often, I know I do. Most businesses are doing tacit they don't enjoy. Or you complete tasks that you really do not like, but you know it has to be done. So there are tasks in our business it always has to be done. If we are one of the only ones or only a couple people in the business, you know that it has to fall back on you. Most business owners multitask. Trying to do too much at one time. Multitasking has proven that it is much less effective than once thought. So multitasking splits your time and your thought process and you cannot get proper attention to anyone thing. Again, we realize and have realized in the last several years, that multitasking really is not a good thing. It is better to focus on one thing at a time. But as business owners, we often find that our thoughts and processes split. We also try to attempt tasks that we are simply not good at doing. This can often end up in mistakes, taking more time, or both. And then, many business owners know they need social media help. But, you are maybe not knowing how to do it for your business, or you do not enjoy doing it for your business. So do you really know how to use it for the business? Can you produce enough content, which is a Jimenez amount nowadays. Can you do engagement all day long? Do you know enough to be dangerous? You know, does the little we know enough just to be dangerous if we do not know enough about it to actually be producing results and really enjoy it. Most business owners also, and I can attest to this as well and raise my hand, it is hard to let go. This is our baby. Our business is our baby, or maybe don't think of it that way, but it is hard to let go because you have been controlling everything. You're the one in charge and you are concerned about trusting somebody else to do those tasks or that work. Especially with a virtual professional or freelancer. That is where you have to build a relationship and begin to get to know that person. And then, some of us are faking being tech savvy. You can manage online, but you really don't know tech well or really don't like it. It is no longer working because it is taking up too much of your time and energy when you focus on it. So, how do I make decisions on what I should outsource? To determine the readiness, but I often tell business owners is that you need to sit down and ask yourself, the same things, are you mulled working on multiple projects at a time? Do you miss family or friend events because work is too busy? Have you more than enough work or more than you can handle? And sometimes, that is hard to admit. To have trouble attracting clients because you are so busy with everything else? You end up sometimes scrambling at the last minute to complete tight client tasks for work ? Jeff tacit take up too much of your time and are not related to the business itself or what you usually started out doing. Do work well into the night, or do you fall asleep on your computer or desk? I do that, unfortunately. I often fall asleep on my laptop, I admit. Do you find yourself working in your business, not on your business? This is a huge one. We all have to realize that we really really need , in order to grow our businesses and in order to grow in scale , if we want to really grow, we have to begin to work on our business, not in it, that simply means that the daily tasks of doing the business should be handed off to somebody else so that you can focus on what you started business for and are focused on where you want your business so the strategy of the business, the marketing of the business, and things of that nature. If you answered yes to just one of these, my friend, it is time to probably outsource. How can we grow and scale your business? We need to look at and consider several things. One of them our workflow. Can you work virtually? What is your expected turnaround time? All of these are very important because it is one thing to outsource to somebody, it is another to be able to work virtually with somebody. Or have somebody part-time in office. We will go over some of those things, but working virtually is a little different. And your expectations have to be different than an in office person. It is a different mindset. So for best practices for transitioning to grow, processes and systems are very very important. If we take a survey , what I suggest usually for business owners is to actually take the survey. Sit down, to know what you need to outsource and you have to prioritize this. What I say is do not just imagine what you need, but sit down and actually -- I like to say Monday through Friday for one full week, right every single thing down that you do. If you can't do it that long, for at least a few days. And type everything from opening the doors, sitting down, putting the computer on, every little thing. Everything you do in a day to run the business for each day Monday through Friday. You will be surprised at what the list has on it. Once you have your list, then you can go back and organize. What is top priority to get rid of? Not top party that you do, but top party to get rid of? What is taking up too much of your time? What you feel you were doing or not doing well, and what do you not enjoy doing at this time? I tell business owners, they usually come to me for outsourcing. By the time they should have come to me 6 to 18 months sooner. That is true for all of us. At that time, they have so many needs that they want to outsource that it is hard to meet all those needs. So, we sit down and we go over the list of the needs of my client, and we will sit down and say what is it ? What is number 1 on your list to get rid of? What is the one thing that would feel like such a weight lifted if we got rid of that one thing? So we start there. Then we build from that. I would highly recommend doing a list. It may seem tedious or something you cannot do right now, but I say to just go ahead and start that. Then go from there and prioritize. So, we organize our list by priority. I wanted to give an example of how you actually make your list. If you are email marketing and sending out emails, so what part needs to be outsourced and what will you continue to do? To email market, you have to go through all the steps like you would when you're making your list. You write email, update audience was. You add tags, you format the email. You add the content and pictures, you test the email, you schedule the email to send on the preferred day and time. Now, do want to continue to do every step of that process? Do want to outsource? Do want to continue with the content? Those are decisions that you will have to decide on when you are looking at outsourcing steps in the business. Many business owners will say, I will keep writing the content, but I need you to take over the process in the system itself. So, decide which of the many steps that you are ready to outsource and prepare your processes. Some important factors and wanted to go over as we consider this, before you actually get into the process of it, is consider the type of communicator you are. This is huge. This is huge in outsourcing, especially outsourcing. What is your style? If you're virtual professional contact you back after you give them the work and they just need some additional information, would you be getting back to them immediately? The same day? Or when you get around to it? This is an important thing to know about yourself so that you can communicate with your outsource person, because if you tell them, I will get right back to you, and then it is days that they do not hear from you, they will probably go on and work on somebody else's work. You have to know this about yourself and prepare them and have expectations on both sides. The other thing to know about yourself is to know and have them place a possible, which processing systems you already have in place. The list that we talk about should actually have been written down. If you already have them written down, you can go to your manual of operations and decide which tasks needs to be outsourced. But you know the processes and systems you currently have in place? What I found is that with most smaller solo entrepreneurs, many do not have a system or a process in place. You might have software that you use, but you do not really have processes written down. What would happen if you are out for an extended leave because of an illness or something like that? Could somebody come in and take over your business? Or would your business simply fall to the wayside? These are things to consider. Another reason to outsource as well so that somebody knows your processes and your systems. If you don't have those in place, that is something you can outsourcing get somebody to help you with. And then, you want to consider about yourself before hand. We all think our way is the best way. Certainly, when we are hiring people and employees, and things like that, we want them to do it our way. You want to consider that when you are outsourcing, remember, there are a number of reasons are doing this. One is for time, one is because they are professionals that are doing that and maybe you are not doing that specific task. So have to consider and be open to new ideas and changes and new ways of doing things. You might want to consider, are you open to these things? Are you able to take suggestions from a professional? Are you open to suggestions to make a more streamlined? Consider these things when you're talking about growing your business. These are some things that you need to think about. And then, I also want to mention that before you outsource, you really need to consider that you are finding a partner. This is not just an employee, it is not someone that you are throwing work on, does a partner that also has a business, you are outsourcing to, they can help you develop solutions that will work for your business and you can grow. Now, things to consider also . We're talking about contractor versus employee. Why would you hire a contractor or an employee? Contractors, for one, cannot set work days and times. You can set them deadlines, but you cannot say that you need to be available to me from 9 to 5. You have to trust that they will get the job done. Employees can say they will be here 95, this is when I need you. Contractors are not -- they are responsible for the taxes. You are not responsible for them. Employees, you're going to have to submit and pay taxes to Social Security and pay taxes every month and sometimes every paycheck. Contractors, you can have deadlines. Employees, you can give exact daily times and deadlines. Most contractors like to have 48 hours turnaround time just so you know that off the bat. Contractors are considered 1099 employees. You need to submit the forms by the end of January. And employees, you have to do the W-4 forms. With contractors, the big benefit is you are not paying vacation pay, sick leave, no health insurance, no pension, Social Security taxes, etc. You hire an employee most of the time, you're going to have to pay some of this. I understand sometimes that hiring part-time is not paying as much, but in today's society the U.S., you have the health insurance issues. You will have the headache of some of that depending on the hours, as well as the Social Security taxes. I always recommend that if you have any questions about this, to consult a lawyer or CPA and or human resources specialist as well. I am none of those. What do we do next when we want to outsource? We want to talk about how to find a virtual professional and how to vent a personal virtual professional and how to and board. It takes time to put these things into place. It is smart to know ahead of time your preferences. What is your integrity and your company's integrity? What reviews do they have? What are you partnering? Who are you partnering with directly. Who is going to be subcontracting as well. Are you partnering with a company that has subcontractors or partnering with one virtual professional? Those are important things to ask when you talk to somebody in an interview. Where can you find virtual professionals? There are a number of ways to find virtual professionals. I'm going to give you a few here. They are all over the place nowadays, but I'm going to give you some really respectable resources in regard to the directories. You can always Google and do search engine things in Yahoo. You can also do online posts or online job boards. You can post them there. Email and e-learning platforms are the places. Freelancing groups. You can find people on that. Often less expensive, but also less experienced as well. And social media, you can find profession nurse as well such as Facebook and LinkedIn. There are good places to find that. For directories, I listed some specific directories and I believe Alexa said that you will get the slides he will get to look the directories up. I highly recommend this because they are and e-learning form, so whoever you bring on board will actually be continuing their education, but which is important because everything is changing so quickly. You want to be sure that it is something you consider when you outsource, are they continuing to learn or to update their skills? is another great resource of professionals . All names are listed on their , you can usually sort by category if you need bookkeeping or social media or online business management, whatever that is. Also is there. Or also international virtual assistants Association, which is . They have been around for many years and have great professionals on their website. Those are some that I would highly recommend. Now, how do you that the virtual professional for the outsource person? You want to look for a professional website. If they do not have a professional website, they are most likely just started, so if they have a LinkedIn or Facebook, it is good, but most that have been doing it for some time will have a professional website for you to consider. Set up a consultation call or video consult and when you do that and interview, you will ask them how long they have been doing this, and about their experience. Communicate with your expectations. For the relationship and asked them what is theirs. Asked them if they have any special certifications. If they are updating their skills or continually learning . That can be important especially if you want higher and outsourcing and help. Do they have software knowledge with what you're doing? If you're using certain marketing tools, we have an e-learning offer, you want to make sure that they understand or have somebody other team that understands the software. Then, I always, nowadays, with the Internet, we're always looking at reviews. Everybody , whenever you go somewhere, you are looking at reviews. So, I do recommend that you look up reviews on the person. I will tell you that virtual assistance at least, even social media and some of the others right now, do not have a lot of Google reviews. You may have to trust either the reviews on their website and what people have said, or refuse on Facebook and things like LinkedIn. Those are some places that I would definitely consider looking out. If it is a graphic designer or website designer, I highly recommend that they have a portfolio that you can view so that you can see the work and what type of designer they are before you contract with them. Then discuss in depth your needs, including, as I said, the software you use, the processes, and what your future plans are. Now I know this is the one probably everyone was waiting for. What can I expect to pay for your virtual team member ? Cost can vary greatly depending on skill, country, type of service needed and if they are continuing their education and skills? That cost them money as well. Most of the time, these are averages, of course, you can find them higher or lower, depending on the country as well. And as I said, what skills they have. A virtual assistant will generally run $25-$45 an hour. A digital marketing expert will run $40 an hour to $100 an hour, depending on the software. And then project management runs anywhere from $50-$75 an hour. A graphic designer can be $45-$75 an hour. These are just very different, depending on what your needs are. I notice the 70 said something about certifications. So I highly recommend that you look at the directories that I gave you because I think you will find what you need more there. If there is a specific like that that you are looking for. Also, I will tell you that most of the time, the outsourcing will be done in packages. It is not by the hour, they're not giving you a timesheet like an employee, because they are not an employee, there partnering with you. So they might say, social media, you get a certain number of posts, get analytics, you get whatever it is and it costs X number of dollars per month. And then you are billed of the beginning of the month prior to when you start. That is generally how it works. Under the digital marketing, you're going to find anywhere from social media email marketing to blogging, to SCO, and we talked about that a little while ago, but all of that falls under that category. That is why it is a little bit more broad. Any of these will more than likely give you a package rate or a flat rate for graphic design, or website design. That will probably be more of a flat rate. This is what I charge for a logo, this is what I charge for a one page website, etc. Most of the time for those, you are going to pay a deposit and then pay either a one third, one third, one third, or you pay half. Now, when you are on boarding your team member, the next step is to put a good contract in place. Many that you outsource with will already have a contract, she does want to review it in depth or you have your lawyer look at it if you have a lawyer. Generally speaking, you want to make sure that the package or hourly rate is correct and what you agreed to. You what specifics regarding the type of work or task that they are going to do. For instance, if you are contracting with them to do social media management, you want to make sure that they are going to list every little thing, see want them to have the management, you want them to have the platforms you're going to manage, how many times you're going to post, are they going to engage, do they not engage? Do they do the content? To or do you to the content. Also are not the also are the noncompete clauses. Confidentiality clauses there. Intellectual property is another one that I have been putting on for the past several years because you might have things that are intellectual property related to your business. You do not want everybody getting out. You might be successful because of that and you do not want that shared. And vice versa. Your virtual professional may have things in place that they do not want shared. You want to make sure that is covered as well and that would be a clause on there. You want turnaround time specified in the contract. How long will it take them after I give them a task or if they do it on a regular basis, when will I see results or turnaround time? And the length of the contract. Will it be a limited one-time project? Or is it going to be an ongoing retainer monthly thing? Francis, I go back to social media again, but that is my wheelhouse, because we do digital marketing, but for the length of time, generally speaking, that would be an ongoing retainer package. It is not just one off because you do not usually just use social media one off. Fit is producing content and you have a specific event that you want to promote and you just want to get somebody to produce content, that is different. That can be a one off for that particular thing. Then you also want to check the cancellation policy as well. And see what that is. For instance, on my packages, mine will say 30 day notice for both of us. I give them 30 days you give me 30 days. In general, I also like my clients know that for social media, it can take a few months to see action and some growth. I do suggest that they take 3 to 6 months with us before deciding whether to continue or not. That would be important to know the cancellation policy. For hourly rates, used to have a two-week cancellation policy. What do they have in place for the cancellation policies, because you want to keep the contract and you don't want there to be any problems in the future. The final steps of bringing the team on board would be simply to onboard them through the contract . Maybe if you have something as a new team member or something like that. You want to make it a fun experience. It is professional, but also easy and fun. Supply and emergency content for your virtual professional. They should as well. Then pay any invoice or deposit that is needed so that you can get started right away. Now managing your team, we have a lot packed into this webinar today, so want to get through it, but managing your team, again, communication is key. Determine the best ways to reach you, what is the easiest way that you want to be reached? When I onboard clients, I have a welcome packet that I send it to them. But in that, I have an intake form for them to fill out that gives me their information, but then also asks, what is the best way to reach you? How do you prefer? Define the roles. What are the rules going to be? What are your expectations, as well as the detailed overview of what the workflow will be. The processes. If you're getting them to help you with that, that is different, you will work together and that. Explain all assignments clearly. Including software use and manuals. Make sure you have clear expectations. Managing disputes with your team is very important. Now, I have not -- I have really had this, but it does happen. Sometimes personalities do not make send it is not a good fit. That is why I highly recommend doing a consult ahead of time. Be sure to attend any disputes right away. If you let it fester, both sides will get angry or bitter and it is going to make the situation worse. Be empathetic as much as possible, but do not enable them. So if they're making excuses or things like that, you certainly do not want to say that is okay all the time. You want to empower them to be the best they can be. It is okay to be empathetic if they are ill or things of that nature, but you do not want to enable them. Often a video call is better because you can see the facial expressions that can make a huge difference. Eye contact. You can read people's expressions and I content. It can either defuse the situation or add fuel to the fire. Just remember that. I wanted to go over some workflows as well. I wanted to talk about how that works. In general, you are going to have, and I will talk about a couple of different types, so this would be if you're working with one virtual professional, yourself and the virtual professional. So, if you're working with them, you will hand off the task and the task will be put into -- you will not hand it off, but you will put the task into a project management system. I think this is key in helping with outsourcing as project management systems. We were so full and packed in the slide that I do not want to add more, but there is Wrike . It helps keep you on task and it is great way to know where they are within your project. I highly recommend that. So once you put into the project management system and alert your team member, which most systems will alert them if they have something assigned to them within the project management system, then the team member is going to work on it. If you need to, you can meet for discussion or have a quick phone call. If there are any questions, they will work on it. They will deliver the work back to, or if it is social media, you will see that it is done or they will send you reports, then you review and either approve. Is a something needs to go out like email marketing? And you might want the final approval on that, then you will approve it. Then give them the okay on that. That is just one way to manage it. Another workflow would be if let's say, you are planning on building a team, more than one. And, you are going to either hand off the project or the work to either and OBM , which is an online business manager, she might want to hire someone like that to Menzel team, so that you do not have to do every little thing. But if you're not hiring someone like that, you will have a couple different team members, and you want to assign it to the team member that you know needs to do that, so if you have a graphic designer and a social media person, and you need a logo, you will send it to the graphic designer, in other words. Or if you have an online business manager, you to send it to them as any this done. They will handout the work, of course, from there. And again, you assigned the team member that will meet with you or the online business manager. It will be added to the project management system. The two member will work on it and then delivers it back to you. If you have an online business manager, that would sifted through them first to check it, probably, then deliver it back to you. So, just to stress the ongoing work is like the retainer package. So that his monthly work, whereas a one off project would just be a one-time thing. That is what I mean by on Coney -- ongoing or retainer. To see you understand that better. Another way to do it, and there could be multiple ways to do this, so these are just a few that I brought up and you can assign it to the team member, meet with them, and then either you or the team member adds it to the project management system. You can clearly see what is happening. And this would be the retainer client as well, or retainer contractor. They work on it and again, it comes back to you, and you approve the project. So, I wanted to run through that quickly, because I was worried about the time that we have with it. And there was so much to discuss on that. But just to summarize, I want to go over a couple of things. Again, we talked about outsourcing. And what that means. We talked about the types of services that are usually outsourced and hopefully I discussed that in-depth enough . And also, should you consider building your own team? That is important as well. Like to say start out with one if you are just starting to outsource . Start out with one person and remember, I hate to say it this way, but if you have been to a restaurant and have a bad meal, you don't say you are never going back to another restaurant. So if for some reason, you are within outsourcing project and it does not go well the first time, tried again. Try a different professional. And so, I say go ahead and get somebody on board , tried out for a few months, and if that person is not a good fit for you, then try somebody else. But I say start out with one and then if you decide you want to build a team from there, it is important that you do it a little at a time, maybe, unless you are really at the point of needing more than one team member. Then, we talked about how you know if you are ready and a survey to do and whether or not you are overwhelmed with all of the things you are trying to do. We talked about how you can grow from that point as well as how to find somebody to outsource to. And what the outsourcing generally cost, at least an overview of that. As well as interviewing and contracting your new team member. And on boarding your new team member. Hopefully went through a few processes in regards to managing your team through project management and how that process looks once you get it in place. I understand that is a perfect world, and you have to work together and communicate together on that, so that is why it is important to meet with your professional and really get an idea of what they are capable of and what your expectations are of one another. So I am happy to take any questions that you would have right now. Okay. Thank you so much, Tammy. We will go and move to the Q&A portion of the webinar. We're going to address as many questions as we possibly can in this time remaining. I do want to mention that we typically have more questions than time allows us to answer. So if you have asked a question and it doesn't get addressed on today's live session, I would like to encourage you to reach out to a mentor after today's webinar if you are not already working with your SCORE mentor. You can connect with a mentor, Rick West a mentor, do a mentor match, by going to . They can help you apply the strategies. They can help you further with the your business needs. They are free to work with. If your question does not get addressed, please reach out to a SCORE mentor who can assist you further. We're sending out a copy of the slide deck after the session. It does have Tammy's contact information on a. Feel free to reach out to Tammy as well for further assistance. With that, let's go ahead and jump into the questions. So we had several questions come in right before we were moving into Q&A asking about the project management tools that were mentioned, just a few slides back. Wanted to see if you mentioned any project management tools that were not indicated on the slide, or are those all indicated that folks can reference when they do receive the slide deck it around today? My apologies. I do not reference them in the slide deck, but though as I mentioned are Wrike , then I also mentioned Trello . I mentioned Asana, and possibly teamwork. So those are just a few of them. But if you Google project management systems, you will be surprised. There are a ton. You really have to find one that works the way you work. You truly do. I like Wrike, worked really well for me, even the free version, but everybody works apparently. Thank you so much for clarifying those. Our next question, this comes to us from Susan who says that she is looking at the possibility of ringing on a student intern to a hut -- assist with the business and give her the opportunity to receive credits for independent study through the University. Wanted to know if you have any suggestions about this approach or anything specific or different that she should consider. There was also another purchase one who asked about this. Utilizing a student to help with outsourcing. Any suggestions? I think it is a great idea. It is a great tool for you as well as a student. Gives them a learning opportunity. Just keep in mind that they may not be as experienced as someone who has been doing this for years, so you're probably going to need to spend more hands-on time with them in training and other things, just like you would basically with a part-time employee, rather than a contractor. They would be more, in my mind, an employee, I don't know if they would be there in person or work virtually, but in this case, it would be more of an employee. Keep in mind that I noticed about insurance. That case, when you're bringing somebody like that on, you need to check with the school if they are covered if they're going to be working with you, or if you are covered under your insurance as well. Just keep those things in mind, because those of the other possibilities that may come up with that. I am not an expert in the area, but I think it is a great resource and I think it could be wonderful for both of you. Just keep in mind that your time is limited right now and will probably take your time to get them up and running. All right. Our next question comes from Kathy, asking, for a startup website, should she get someone like you or someone to consult in the development of the website? What is the best approach for the website development? I think it really depends on your needs. How large the website is. If you need help building content. Most website developers will not produce content. We can certainly help you with that, but it really depends on what website person you speak with. I think that it could benefit you in that way because you can just handoff what you need, but check with the website designer and what they're going to do for you, because most of them will not write to the content or to the pictures and things of that nature. You really need to check with them before you decide what is the best option for you. Okay. The next question comes to us from Sherry. She is asking if virtual assistants have niche is. She's in the field of women's health. Virtual assistants have come a long way. I do not even call them that most of the time. We usually call them virtual professionals now because there are so many different niche is that they can be involved in, just like we went over in the areas. They can be specialized in any one of the areas. So definitely, they do. If you look at the directory as a -- that I mentioned, you can look them up by those. Okay. Next question. It is from Maxwell. Asking, what is the best way to approach pay rate changes? Both from a contractor point of view and from the employer's point of view? Great question. I actually put a little thing on the end of my contract , a clause that I have them sign, saying that there could be an increase yearly, not that I do, but that there could possibly be a percentage increase every year. You know, most of the time, most professionals handle it either at the earmark of the contract or the end of the year, possibly, because that is usually when the rate change would take place and they would notify you most of the time 30 days ahead if you have a monthly retainer. They will notify you so you can choose whether you want to continue or get somebody else at that point. Our next question comes to us from Mabel. Tammy, do you have any advice on where you would go for help with technical support , for instance, setting up file transfer protocol, organizing files on one drive, etc. Mabel mentions that the service is so expensive. What has your experience been? Yes. It is a big need right now, so that is a great question. Will say that most virtual professionals can help you with that. In general, if it falls under maybe the administrative or tech, but most of the time, just transferring the files. I don't how expensive it is through other sources, but I think outsourcing is a good way to go, because the virtual assistant can help you with it. Could just be a project . One-off project to Triton if you like the person that you work with, maybe want to have them do more. Next question is from Andra . For businesses that do not have documentation of the procedures, what are your thoughts on whether to do that on your own or outsource that service? Well, my first indication is that you are probably watching this because you are short on time and need help. More than likely, would help you to outsource it. However, you are the one who knows each and everything that you do every day. I think it is important to have these procedures somewhere where somebody can get them, whether it is on your computer, or in project management system, wherever that is. Just in case so your business can continue with the help of somebody, even if you are not available. I think it is important, although most of us who are solo entrepreneurs probably do not do that. I do think it is important that we at least have a general outline of the processes. Did I answer that? That works. The next question comes from make it. To have any? Suggestions for business processes. Do have a suggestions on what to start with first? What should she outsource? HR? CRM? Anything she can think of? She wants to put her focus on the customers and her products. Where's a good place to start. Great question. That is a great question. I think that in your case, because you are brick and mortar, and what you want to do is really be customer facing and focused on them, then you have to consider, what are the back office needs? You probably bookkeeping, you probably have marketing, you might have email marketing, or texting, the SMS that you have to have out where you are giving offers through the deli, maybe they get $1 off on specific days if they sign up. Some of the back office needs are probably where you need to start off with. What is to get most of your time right now? In those back office areas. That is what I would do, evaluate what is really taking up most of your time and what would help you grow the quickest? What do not enjoy. Next question. This is from Alana. If you are a startup, how soon should you see if you need outsourcing services? She is coming from real estate. Okay. Congratulations on all the startups up there. That is wonderful. As I said, most come to me 6 to 18 months after they should have, so I definitely think it is worth beginning to research and do some research on it ahead of time. Then, again, it also depends on if there are processes you are doing right now that you do not do well or do not like. It depends on how quickly your business grows. As it begins growing really quickly, you might need somebody in the next few months to six months, but if it is a slow startup, maybe will not need it until later. But I would deftly start doing some research now so that when you do need a person, the you have already contacted a few to talk to or at least a couple to talk to one the time comes. Okay. We have had several questions come in regarding the contract. Asking if there is a template that could be referenced on how to set those up, appropriate verbiage for the contract, something to reference. Online, if you Google that, obviously you can find something. Maybe even some of your mentors in SCORE might have availability of some of those as well. Of course, if you have a lawyer, your lawyer can certainly draw that up. I think if you just Google, are probably free resources for contracts and making it fit your need, but as I said, a lot of virtual professionals already have contracts, so as long as you're comfortable with that and signing their contract, either sending it to your lawyer or read it through and be comfortable with it, I think you will be okay. Okay. The next question comes from Rick. Rick is asking what your experience has been with outsourcing work to others and how do overseas service providers compare with support from local service companies. That is a great question, because we have probably not give just as we don't talk about that a little bit. My experience, actually, when I started my business, I knew that I was going to be building a team of contractors. Part of my mission is that I have MS and I am disabled. Wanted to empower other disabled officials to work from home, so I knew from the beginning that I would probably be outsourcing and began looking for those in working with the department of rehab here and the division of the blind and visually impaired as well as other services. So I went that route because I did not know what I was doing. It was a bumpy road. But now that I have been 11 years into the business and I have a great team and great clients, it is much smoother. I have learned a lot through the process. I will say that I have people from Canada and the U.S.. I have contracted outside of that needed translators, but not necessarily for much else, and I'm not negating that, there are some really good ones outside of the country . Most of the time, however, what I hear back in our industry is that many of the business owners in the U.S. have difficulty with language barriers and finding the writing content or content, the end up correcting a lot of things. You have to weigh if it is worth the discounted rate? Is it worth it when you're spending time translating and doing things that you don't want to do, that you are really outsourcing. Like I said, from my point of view in our industry and from what I hear back. All right. We have time for just a couple last questions here. The next comes from Terry. Is a good idea to have all people involved sign a confidential form? Yes. Absolutely. I put it on my contracts. The confidentiality clause and I have no trouble asking others to sign that. I have no trouble signing up for my clients, either. All right. The next question is from Laura, asking if you have any ideas on how to keep tabs on the quality of the work that is being performed? Again, I have a project management system which is huge. At the beginning, at least, eventually, you begin to trust and you let go of a lot more, but in the beginning, you definitely do want to review. It can be a little more time-consuming in the beginning. I tell my clients that. It is more time-consuming of the very beginning because they want to learn your voice and you want to approve everything it. You want to make sure that things are going smoothly, but after the first month, that is when things begin to really flow. I do recommend that if you have social media and you are checking your posts, that you are getting reports. That if it is a project that you are double checking the project, if they are working directly with clients, why not send out a survey to the client and see how things are going? There are various ways to do that and it depends on the business. It is hard to know exactly what you would be outsourcing. But I definitely think, keeping and communicating is huge. Just making sure that the work is being done and the project management system is being updated. I think you'll be able to tell the quality that way. Okay. Those are the questions we have time for today. Thank you. I want to thank you all so much for committing such great questions to us. We have received a lot of great questions and I sure wish we had time to address more than we have time for today. If we do not have a chance to address your question, again, we encourage you to connect with the SCORE mentor. After today's webinar, mentors are available to assist you further with your business needs . As a reminder, we are going to be sending a link to the recording of the session, we will also include the slide deck . It is going to be sent out in a postevent email. The slide deck does include Tammy's contact information should you like to reach out to her for further assistance and get some of your questions answered there as well. On behalf of , I would like to thank you for attending today. Like to give a big thank you to Tammy Durden for presenting to us as well. Tammy, thank you so much. I enjoyed being here with everyone. I look forward to hearing from some of you if you have additional questions. Thank you. I'm excited to announce that registration just opened this week for the National Small Business Week virtual conference being hosted by the SBA and SCORE. It is coming up May 7 and May 8. It is a two-day virtual event that is free to attend. It includes educational webinars, mental recessions, business networking, prize giveaways, and much much more. We hope that you will sign up and join us. There is a link to sign up directly from within the webinar form. That is up at the top of your screen. It says register for the National Small Business Week virtual conference. Thank you again, everyone. We look forward to seeing you next time. Take care. [ Event Concluded ] ................
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