You started working online for freedom
We all started working online for one reason or another … but there’s usually something we all have in common … we all started working from home for the freedom. So, how’s that working out for you?
Afraid to take a vacation? Finding yourself saying: just 5 more minutes to you kids? (When you said that 20 minutes ago already.) Are you a slave to your business?
I could go on and on and on about this because I know. I’ve been in the very same shoes. Working my butt of constantly to earn a decent living - only finding myself getting nowhere fast - simply spinning my wheels. I was spending hours and hours learning how to do something, then of course doing it once I learned how. Ugh - time wasted. And if you know me, you know I’ve always said …
Time is money.
So, what do you do?
Easy - you OUTSOURCE.
I’ve come to appreciate just how important outsourcing really is over the past couple years. And trust me, I fought it tooth and nail every step of the way.
Why would I pay someone else to do the work when I’m trying to make money myself? I can’t afford to pay someone else to do my work.
First of all, you’ll be quite surprised to find out how affordable outsourcing really is. You just have to find that perfect person. Do what I do, hire a WAHM.
One of the goals I made when I very first started working online was to help another mom stay home and earn an income. WOW! I can’t tell you exactly how awesome this feeling is.
I’ll never forget the time my very first assistant told me what I had paid her the previous month had covered her internet bill. She was thrilled, her husband was thrilled and of course I was too! Then eventually, she started letting me know that what I had paid her paid for this bill and that bill and another … and so on and so on …
As you can see … I started out very small. And you should too. One way I started out was bartering. She had one talent and I had another. She would do somethings for me that she enjoyed and I didn’t and visa versa. If that isn’t a win-win situation, I don’t know what is.
Then eventually, I started out with a little more but I started her on basically a commission. I wanted some help with some of my advertising. I was actually loosing out on money. How? I was missing out on re-advertisers. Someone’s advertising would be about to expire and I would forget or didn’t have time and it got pushed back … I wasn’t contacting my current advertisers to see if they would like to continue/renew!
AND if that wasn’t bad enough … I wasn’t taking down expired ads either. Needless to say, I had to have had some happy advertisers. They’d pay for one month and get 2 free! Hello?!?
So - I started passing it onto her. She would place new listings and contact the advertisers about renewing and I would pay her so much to put up each listing. My renewal income had started going through the roof. AND … it ended up working even better for me … something I hadn’t thought about … she started promoting MY advertising. And of course she didn’t miss a single renewal email. Uh, duh, makes perfect sense to me! The more advertisers and renewals I got - the more money she would make too! Yet another win-win situation!
And now - now I have my own outsourcing business - affiliate management. And yes, I outsource some of that work too. If you know anything about managing an affiliate program, you know well there’s a lot of tasks involved. So, I outsource some of the smaller time-consuming tasks.
I know it probably makes no sense what-so-ever. I offer an outsourcing service but, I outsource the work. First of all, I don’t outsource all of it. Secondly, my assistant does not charge me per hour as much as I charge per hour. And she knows this. She’s well aware of my hourly rates. Now when you do this, I don’t suggest trying to do something like you charge $50 an hour and pay your assistant $10. That’s not going to work for very long.
The “profit margin” is very small but I get way more accomplished AND keep some very happy clients. I’m getting double the work done and making a small profit between what I charge and what she charges.
I mentioned earlier about hiring a WAHM. This is because you’ll usually find much more affordable rates this way. When you look at the much larger outsourcing firms … you’ll usually find they’re doing something similar to me but on a much larger scale. There’s “one big guy at the top” who doesn’t do any of the work but outsources it to others. So, his rates are usually much higher. PLUS, he has hired others to do the hiring … so there’s a much larger “chain of command” and you’re paying a little more for each link. Most of the time, you won’t find that with a WAHM. You’re cutting out the middle guy.
Not to mention … a WAHM is generally much more affordable all the way around.
This isn’t always the case but generally. Besides, if you’re a wahm yourself, who wouldn’t want to help a fellow wahm out?
Another way you’re making out is you’re saving time by hiring someone else who knows how to do something you don’t already. Huh? How many times have you found yourself spending hours and hours learning HOW to do something then spending the time to actually do it?
Think about how much time you would save by hiring someone else who already knows how to do something and is proficient in doing so while you’re working on something you do know how to do? Think of how much more you would get accomplished!
Not too long ago, I realized I was forgetting the benefits of outsourcing. My husband and I suffered an enormous financial blow. So in order to make up for our lost income, I decided to kick up my online business a notch. Unfortuately, I didn’t kick it up a notch, I turned it up full blast immediately.
I found myself in a very bad position. I was working from the time I put the kids on the bus till bed time. I way over-booked myself. I over-booked myself so much I almost had to drop a client. Luckily, I knew there was a light at the end of the tunnel but I just needed help getting there.
Finally it hit me … you have an assistant … utilize her!
And so I did. Thank God I did! She helped me get myself caught up AND more importantly at this point, reminded me how much more I can use her to keep myself caught up and still make a decent income!
Needless to say, we’re both very happy campers! She’s making more and so am I. But the best part is, hubby is no longer the only parent my kids know 
PLUS … instead of the possibility of dropping a client … I’m able to take another on!! Woo Hoo!
Again, I could go on and on here but believe it or not, this wasn’t even where I was going with this post, not really. This was supposed to be a SHORT introduction to a little mini course I’m going to be sharing over the next couple of weeks.
So, I’ll stop here for now. Tomorrow I’m going to start sharing my mini course with you. With this course, you’ll learn more benefits of outsourcing, tasks that are easiest to outsource and some of the most common mistakes made in outsourcing.
You started working online for freedom …
and now you’re being held hostage by your very own business. It’s time for that to be over. It’s time to stop being a slave to your own business! Don’t you agree?
Happy Outsourcing!
Your fellow WAHM in success,
Anita
Topics: Business Stuff, Outsourcing, Resources for Your Business |