It’s not uncommon to see large companies moving many jobs overseas in an effort to save money. They call it outsourcing. As a mom who works from home, you have that same opportunity while you run a small business.

Typically, outsourcing involves finding jobs that can be done outside the office in another location for less money.

As your business grows, you might very well find that you need help. Even when you are highly organized, there seems to be more and more work to get done. Instead of encroaching on family time, find a way to get all of your tasks handled without boarding the train to Looneyville.

Outsourcing works for the small business owner, too. Just like a large corporation find the tasks that can be done in another location and send them out. Here are some suggestions:

1. Hire a virtual assistant. Administrative work can be such a chore and take up more and more time as your business grows. Hiring a virtual assistant can alleviate much of this burden. They are also entrepreneurs who use their industry skills to help your business grow. It is easy to find a list to begin by typing “virtual assistant” into any search engine.

2. Hire a part-time cleaning service. The housework is always staring you in the face when you work at home. Instead of worrying about it or compromising business hours, hire a professional to take care of the upkeep. Once you clean your home thoroughly, having a service to come in weekly will keep everything managed.

3. Hire freelance help. Freelance employees pay their own taxes and overhead. Sometimes you need the help of other professionals. For example, Internet marketing can take a large chunk of your time. Finding someone well versed in the matter to run that side of the business lets you concentrate on actually meeting deadlines or finding new places to market your business.

4. Put your family on the payroll. Who says you can’t use a little nepotism? You run a business, but it is all in the family. Enlist the aid of your kids, husband and other family members so you can get more done. Ask your husband to take over dinner duty a few days a week. Set up a reward system (such as shiny stars) for your kids when they help mommy by picking up their toys and keeping their rooms clean.

Growth is great but it can decrease your productivity if you continue to try and do everything yourself. It’s time to get help. There simply aren’t enough hours in the day to handle everything. Find ways to outsource tasks … to everyone.

Jan Tallent
Tallent Agency Virtual Assistance

p.s.

Freelance Mastery details legitimate freelancing opportunities from reliable employers that you can do from home. These are WELL PAYING jobs, that are offered to you by established companies and businesses in all different industries and markets. Check it out

Today I would like to share with you a great post by Michelle Mangen, one of my online connections.

Understanding Differences with Virtual Assistants

Frequently I am asked during consultations with new clients why there are so many “variations” between Virtual Assistants, especially with pricing .

If you own a brick and mortar business compare employees you currently have and have had in the past. When you interview a candidate what makes you chose one person over another? Why do they not all ask for the same pay?

Some of the criteria used to determine which employee to hire was probably one of the items on this list:

* past experience/skills
* education
* cost of living (geographical)
* belief in themselves (confidence)
* Personality

The same holds true for Virtual Assistants. Like any service industry no one mandates what can and should be charged.

I know Virtual Assistants who charge $20/hr for bookkeeping and others who charge $65/hr for setting up a Facebook Fan Page.

As with a true brick and mortar company you can’t always hire one person to do all things. The same holds true when hiring Virtual Assistants. Maybe you interview a VA who cannot help you with email management or handling your Aweber newsletters.

Many Virtual Assistants can do much more than what may be listed on their website. When in doubt – ask. If you believe your VA can’t perform a specific task ask if she can refer someone she can trust.

At the end of the day hiring a Virtual Assistant is very similar to hiring an employee. We are all different, yet our goal is the same … to assist you in growing your business and alleviating any stress and anxiety you may feel with running certain aspects of your business.

I welcome any questions you may have in regards to services you may be seeking but have not yet asked me about.

To YOUR success,

Michelle Mangen
The VirtualAssistant.com

P.S. I have been networking with Michelle and her specialties are bookkeeping and dealing with aWeber. Feel feel to visit her site and if you decide to try her services, please mention that Jan Tallent referred you.

About a year ago I got a bright idea to be a Social Networking assistant. Actually, it was first thought of as a service to offer for others on Twitter where I had just started getting pretty active.

I had been told by a couple of people that I was in constant contact with that if they had more time to devote to this method of interacting, they would be as active as I was and they wished someone could find the type or category of people they would like to interact with and also maybe make some postings on topics that held their interest and I decided this was something I would like to do.

Now, a year later, I am very active on Twitter, reasonably so on FaceBook and have joined several great groups of like minded business people on Linkedin and it has seriously helped my businesses to interact with the terrific people I am connected to in these and other social mediums.

This might be something for you to consider if you are or plan on becoming a Virtual Assistant or if you are a potential client reading this post, you can send me a message detailing your social networking needs and we can explore the ways I might be able to help you.

I can search for compatible people for you to follow or connect with, welcome your new followers with a pre-written message, post your contribution at selected times, follow back the people you want to continue to be connected with and even UNfollow those you do not want to be associated with and more!

Jan Tallent
Tallent Agency Virtual Assistance

http://www.tallentagency.com

p.s. I love the interactions with MY wonderful network of intelligent, helpful and just plain NICE connections!