Sunday, June 21, 2015

3 reasons why you’re better off outsourcing


As small business owners one of our constant worries is having sufficient cash flow to be able to operate smoothly. Entrepreneurs often choose to mitigate this problem by carrying out a lot of administrative work themselves. Such work could include back office administration, cleaning, delivering, etc. The reasoning behind this is, presumably, to save money. 

The reasoning is wrong. Here’s why,


1. Time spent doing administrative work is time not spent with clients.

It is a known fact; a business succeeds if it makes sufficient profit, and profit comes from sales to clients. If you do not spend time getting clients and keeping them well kept, your competitors will. Use your limited time wisely, instead of cleaning your office you’d better send a newsletter to potential clients, instead of data entry you’d better set up a meeting with a major client. You are leading your business and you can only lead it from the front.

2. You can have a motivated, dedicated and reliable workforce, without employing them.

Nowadays you can find businesses which will do pretty much anything to support you. Through websites such as fiverr and SEO clerks you can outsource any part of your business. Even locally, by searching the web or looking through social media you can find a business that can carry out any operation of your business.

These are normally one or two person businesses and they want to win you over as a client and do your work for you. Being their own businesses they are motivated persons. They took a risk by working on their own and therefore they are eager to succeed. Upon agreeing on the terms of the task you needn’t worry about managing them, about them not getting along with their colleagues or any other challenges which employees bring with them.

3. It will cost you less in the long run.

Consider yourself for a moment. You are, or inspire to be, an entrepreneur and that means that you feel that you are very good at something. You might even consider yourself an expert. Similarly, business owners of these outsourcing companies tend to be professionals in their respective fields, in most cases, better than you could ever be. No one can be an expert on everything. Being professional at something also means being efficient. Taking less time than it would take a non-professional to do and also making it better. It could take you 3 hours to clean your office, plus the cost of the cleaning equipment, when it would take a professional cleaner an hour at no extra cost for equipment.


You should not think of outsourcing as an extra cost but rather as cost saving. Remember that everything, even your own time, comes at a cost, so your goal should be to get more value for your money. If you can make a profit of €1000 in 4 hours today, why would you want to spend the next 4 hours entering data, when you could outsource it for €25/hour and get it done in 3 hours instead? Don’t be busy, be productive.

Wednesday, June 3, 2015

Crowdfunding is a Game Changer - And You Should be a Part of It


In the world of entrepreneurship few are the mechanisms which make your adventure more fun and successful whilst not costing you an arm and a leg. If the term Crowdfunding is either new to you, or you are vaguely familiar with it, now is the time to do your research.

Traditionally, to fund your business your options were split between using your own funds, securing a loan or getting equity investment. Using your own money is straight forward, but if things go south you risk losing part of all your life savings. Going into debt or getting equity investments means doing hours of number crunching work, which means having less time to focus on your business or spending money to have other people crunch the numbers for you, professionally.

Enter Crowdfunding, the game changer.

There is an English saying, the proof is in the pudding! You can carry out the best market research before launching a product, but the answers given by your prospective clients are just...words. Crowdfunding allows your prospective clients to show how interested they are in your product (or service, or project or charity, etc.) by donating or investing a sum of money. The amount can start from €1 which means that anyone can participate. In exchange, people who donate receive rewards or special privileges.

So, all of a sudden, the wider community, which depending on the project could mean a great portion of the world, can be directly involved in the creation and growth of your business.

Imagine it! This community would spread the word about your product, provide feedback if you request it and encourage others to get to know more about it, before you've even sold your first one.